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PAUL RK-VERE. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES 

IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE 

BY ^^ 

MRS. HELEN W. PIERSON 

AUTHOR OF HISTORIES OK KRANCE, ENGLAND AND GERMANY, IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE, 

COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED. 



/A 



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NEW YORK 
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS 

9 Lafayette Place 



\ 



IN UNIFORM STYLE, 

Words of One Syllable. 
ILLUSTRATED. 



HISTORY OF UNITED STATES 

LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF 
THE UNITED STATES 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

HISTORY OF FRANCE 

HISTORY OF GERMANY 

HISTORY OF IRELAND 

HISTORY OF RUSSIA 

HISTORY OF JAPAN 

HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTA- 
MENT 

HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTA- 
MENT 

HISTORY OF THE BATTLES OF 
AMERICA 



George Routledge & Sons, 

9 Lafayette Place, New York. 



H\l<5 



Copyright, 1884 and i88c 
By Joseph L. Blamire. 



'?\.V 



PREFATORY 



In this '' History of the United States," 
It has been the aim to use words of only one sylla- 
ble. But it will be seen that, in a historical work, 
names must be given of famous men, of great bat- 
tles, and of some important measures. It is thought 
that parents or teachers can soon familiarize young 
people with these names, so that they will read them 
as readily as the rest. Titles have been sometimes 
omitted, and some names which deserve a place and 
have it in larger histories, are not found here. All 
such omissions have been made from the fear of 
rendering the task of reading the book too difficult 
for many, who, as they grow older, can add to the 
list that fame has made illustrious, and take wider 
views of the history of this land. 

H. W. P. 



CONTENTS. 



i6 



26 



CHAPTER I. 
How THIS Land was Found, 

CHAPTER n. 
The New World, 

CHAPTER HI. 
The Red Men, 

CHAPTER IV. 
The War that Made us Free 4^ 

CHAPTER V. 
Three Great Fights, 53 

CHAPTER VI. 
First in War — First in Peace, ^^ 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Rest of the War, . . • "9 

CHAPTER VIII. 

In Times of Peace, ^^ 

CHAPTER IX. 
New Men and New Laws, 95 



8 Contents. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER X. 

Some Great Men 107 

CHAPTER XI. 
A New War, . . 120 

CHAPTER XH. 
The War of North and South, 126 

CHAPTER XHI. 

Loss AND Gain, 134 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Brave Boys in Blue and Gray, 144 

CHAPTER XV. 
Lines Drawn in, 154 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Moves in the West, 162 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Grant Takes The Charge, . . . . . . .170 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

How the End Came, . 176 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Peace Once Mqre, . « 185 



History of the United States. 

CHAPTER I. 

HOW THIS LAND WAS FOUND. 

For a long time, in past years, it was not known 
that the world was round. If the men in those days 




IN-DI-ANS HUNTING IN THE SNOW. 



had been told that a ship could start from a port 
and sail straight on for months and come round to 



lO History of the United States. 

the same place, it would have made them laugh as 
at a good joke. They did not know the real shape 
of the earth, but thought it was a flat plane. 

In those days our land was the home of the In- 
di-ans, or red men, as we call them, from their dark 
skins. The red man does not live in a house, but 
in a sort of tent or hut. The tribes of red men had 
all this land for their own when Co-lum-bus was born. 
The great woods, the green plains, the bright streams, 
were all theirs. The}^ made their wars in a strange 
and fierce style, and wore at their belts locks of hair, 
cut from the heads of those slain by their hands. 
These locks, cut from the head with part of the skin, 
they call a scalp. It was the pride of an In-di-an to 
have scalps hung at his belt. No one had taught 
him that this was wrong, and he did not have the 
Word of God to show him the right way. 

When Co-lum-bus was a mere boy he was fond of 
the sea and ships. He would go and watch the 
waves, and think about how ships were made, and 
the best way to sail them. He was born in Gen-oa, 
which is by the blue sea ; so when he was a small boy 
he could watch the white sails come in. Such queer 
ships they had there, with strange high prows ! As 
time went on, and he grew of age, he made trips in 
these ships, and was in sea-fights, and once or 
twice he was in a wreck. So you see he had a 



12 History of the United States. 

chance to grow strong and brave for the work he 
had to do. 

What he read in books taught him that the world 
was round, and not flat, as was thought in those 
times. So he knew that if he could sail west he 
would come to a new land. He thought of this a 
long time, and at last he grew more sure of it, but 
he could get no one else to think as he did. He 
spent ten years in this way. He was full of plans; 
but he could get no help and no gold. He was too 
poor to do all with no aid from his friends. At last 
he went to Spain. 

There were a King and Queen there who were 
kind to Co-lum-bus ; but at first they would not give 
their gold to help him. They thought this was a 
wild dream. At last, with a sad heart, he made up 
his mind to turn his back on the court of Spain. 

While on his way, a man came to him from 
Queen Is-a-bel-la. She had sent him word that she 
would help him ; ''that she would pledge her own 
gems to give him aid." But she did not have to 
do this, as means were found when Co-lum-bus 
went back to the court. His heart was made glad ; 
for they gave him a small fleet of three ships, and 
on the 3d of August, 1492, the sun rose on the 
fleet as it went forth on its way to the new land. 
All was strange to the new crew, and they had all 



How this Land was Found. 13 

sorts of queer thoughts and fears of the sea. They 
had not been out of sight of land in all their lives ; 
and when they saw the deep, dark sea on all sides, they 
were full of fear that they would not see their homes 
again. The trade wind which took them west so 
fast, would keep them, they thought, from their land 
when they had the wish to go back. At last they 
grew so full of fear, they swore they would not go 
on, and Co-lum-bus had hard work to make them. 
But soon there were signs of land, and some land 
birds flew by the ship ; and one of the crew found a 
branch of a tree on the waves, which had some fresh 
red fruit on it. 

Oh, how glad they were ! Co-lum-bus felt so 
sure that he was near land, he gave word for the 
ships to lie by that night. No man thought of sleep. 
They all kept watch on deck to see this strange 
new coast for which they had borne so much. 

In the night a cry of joy was heard. Co-lum- 
bus had seen a light far off, and a shout of '' Land ! 
land ! " soon came from all sides. 

When the sun rose they all saw a green strip of 
shore some five miles long. The men fell at the 
feet of Co-lum-bus and shed tears of joy. Then 
they sang a hymn of praise to God, who had kept 
them and brought them safe and sound to this new 
place. They got ou^ the small boats and put men 



14 History of the United States. 

and arms in them, with flags, and a band to play a 
march of joy, and the crews made their way to the 
shore. Co-lum-bus, in a rich dress with his drawn 
sword in his hand, sprang on the beach, and then 
the crew came next. They set up a cross, and all 
knelt at its foot and gave thanks for their safe trip. 
Then Co-lum-bus set up the flag of Cas-tile and 
Le-on, and took the new land for the crown of 
Spain. 

While they stood there with shouts of joy and 
songs, some strange dark shapes stole up with soft 
steps to their side. The crew thought these men 
must have come from a new world, as they saw their 
dark skins and the gay paint and plumes they wore. 
Co-lum-bus gave them the name of In-di-ans, for he 
thought the new coast was part of In-dia. He did 
not know that he had found a new land. These 
men with red skins were glad to kiss the feet of the 
Span-iards, and change their gold chains and rude 
rings for the beads and pins the crew gave to them. 

Co-lum-bus spent some time in the new land he 
had found, and then he set sail for home to take his 
friends and the Queen the great news. A wild 
storm came on the way home, and Co-lum-bus 
thought that all was lost, so he wrote his tale on a 
cake of wax and put the cake in a cask and threw 
it in the sea ; so that if he had gone down in the 



How this Land was Found. 15 

storm, all that he had found would not be lost to the 
world. 

But God took care of Co-lum-bus and his crew. 
They got back to their homes once more and had a 
grand time. The King and Queen gave them a 
new and fine fleet ; and in time they came back and 
saw new points of land on which to build homes, 
and they found, too, South A-mer-i-ca. 

There were some in Spain who did not like Co- 
lum-bus, for he had won gold and fame, while they 
had none. So they told false tales of him ; and when 
his friend. Queen Is-a-bel-la, died, he was once 
brought back from the land he had found in chains. 
How sad that was ! — was it not ? At last he had to 
die old and poor, and this land did not have his 
name. It had no name for some time; but at last 
an I-tal-ian, who made a few trips there, and wrote 
of what he saw, gave his name to the new world. 
His name was A-mer-i-cus Ves-pu-ci-us. That is a 
hard name for you to say, but you can all say A-mer- 
i-ca, and that is the name of our land. 




CHAPTER II. 



THE NEW WORLD. 



When the news of this land of gold spread over 
the world, Eng-land and France and Spain all sent 
ships to see what they could find. They each 
thought they would like to have a slice. The 
Eng-lish thought they had some rights, as one oi 
their men, named Ca-bot, had, in truth, been the first 
to touch this new shore. The next time he came, 
he made his way down the coast to what we call 
Vir-gin-ia, and set up a claim for Eng-land. 

Then the King of France sent a man to plant 
his flag here, and he gave the name of New France 
to part of our coast. But though Eng-land and 
France both set claim to the land, they did not 
send men here to live for a long time. 

At last Queen E-liz-a-beth gave one of the great 
men at court, called Sir Wal-ter Ral-eigh, a claim 
to a large tract of land in A-mer-i-ca. He came 
with two ships, and found the red skins kind. They 
brought him gifts, and he went back to tell of all 
the strange things he had seen, and some came to 
live on the new shores. But the red skins were 



The New World. 17 

hard to live with, and the small group of white men 
could get no food, and were near death, when a 
brave man, named Sir Fran-cis Drake, came with 
a ship and took them off to their homes. The next 
band that came met a sad fate, for they all fell by 
the hand of the red men. 

There were some in Eng-land who had a great 
wish to see this new world. They thought they 
would like to live in a land with no King, and have 
a church where they could pray to God in their own 
way. They were called '' Pil-grims," for they went 
from place to place and would sing psalms and pray, 
and they were full of joy at the thought of their 
new home. 

Do you know the name of the ship they came 
in ? It is a sweet name, and you must keep it in 
your mind — The May-flow-er, They did not have 
a smooth trip, and a storm blew them on to the 
coast of Mass-a-chu-setts. It was bare and cold, but 
it was nice to see land at all. There were all sorts 
of fowl there, and they saw a whale ; but when they 
went to shoot it the gun burst. They made their 
way to a vale where there was a spring, and there 
they took their first drink in the new land. 

There was a rock called Plym-outh Rock, and 
here they made their homes and built the first house. 
It was in 1620, in a cold time of the year, that the 



i8 



History of the United States. 



■A 



Full Size,. 




IN-Dl-AN FLINT 
HEADED ARROW 



May-flow-er brought her crew to Plym- 
outh Rock. There was not much 
food, and they had from the first a foe 
whom they could not trust or make a 
friend. These were a new race of men. 
They had brown skins ; were tall and 
straight, with long, coarse black hair. 
They had no books, and got their food 
in the hunt, or caught fish in the streams. 
They made boats of birch bark — queer, 
long things, with a point at each end. 
They could make bows, and would pound 
their corn with two stones for their bread. 
They took the skins of beasts for their 
clothes, for they knew how to dress them. 
Each tribe had its head man, known as 
a chief, and their great joy w^as in war. 
When their foes took them, they would 
not pray for their lives. They were 
brave in their own way, and would show 
no fear at the sight of the fire that was 
to burn their flesh. 

Their wives, the squaws, would dress 

the food and do all the hard work at 

home. They were the ones who dug 

each small patch of ground and put in 

. the beans and corn. The men had a 



The New World. 



19 



scorn for work. They were made to fight, they 
thought. They would say, "The Great Chief gave 
the white man a plow and the red man a bow, 
and sent them in the world to gain food, each in his 
own way." 

In this new land there was not a horse, cow, 
sheep, cat, dog, or hen to be found. You would 
not like such a place, would you ? What did the 




young people do for pets in those days ? No chicks 
to feed, no puss with her soft, warm fur, for small 
hands to stroke. 

But the new homes were not left in peace. 
The red men saw that their doom was near. They 
felt that they would have to move on and on, to 
give place to these men who knew so much ; who 
read books and had schools, and taught their young 
ones to pray. So they took the guns that they had 
bought from the white men and went to war with 
them. When they took them they would tie them 
fast to stakes, burn them to death, and all the time 
the flames were at work, these fierce red men would 



, / 



2c Histo7'-y of the United States. 

dance a war dance of joy. They bought rum from 
the white men, and it made them hke brutes. 

They knew that the white men had come to 
take their land, and that was cause for their hate. 
And so the white men, in their turn, felt no love 
for the red skin, and thought they did well to push 
him back more and more, and take all they could 
from him. The white men were to blame, for they 
first gave the vile rum to the red men, and that 
made them wild. They would burn down the 
white man's house at night, and kill his wife and 
babes. Think how sad it must be to wake up in 
the night and find the hot blaze of a fire in your 
face, and the wild war-whoop of an In-di-an in your 
ears. But you can lie down in your bed in peace, 
for there is no one to harm you — you live In good 
times. 

But those who were so brave as to come and 
live in this new land, had a hard life at first. 
There were no snug farms as now, with fields of 
green corn and wheat. At times the poor men 
could not get much to eat, and one wrote home : 
''The crumbs that fall from your meals would be 
sweet to me. When I can get a cup of meal and 
boil it with a pinch of salt, I give thanks as for a 
great feast. The In-di-ans at times bring corn and 
trade it for clothes or knives. One day they gave 



2 2 History of the United States. 

me a peck of corn for a small dog. It would be a 
strange thing to see a piece of roast beef or veal 
here." 

It will not seem strange, then, that, in such hard 
times, death came to these small bands and took 
some away. But those who were left kept up 
brave hearts, and would not go back to their old 
homes ; and though all were so poor, there was not 
a case of theft in four years. They grew to like the 
land, and one said, " A sup of New Eng-land air is 
worth more than a draught of Old Eng-land ale." 

For one of the first bands of men who came 
here, made their homes in a place to which they 
gave the name of New Eng-land, after their old 
home. As time went on each place grew to be a 
town, and soon had a church and a school of its 
own. If we had gone in one of those towns on 
the Lord's day, we would have seen some strange 
sights. As the clocks struck nine, there would 
come out a man who would beat a drum or blow a 
conch shell, or ring a bell to call all the folks to 
church. As we drew near to this church, we would 
have seen that it was built of logs, with a small flag 
to wave on it. There would be a fence of stakes 
round it, and a man with a gun on guard near 
it. Those who went in left all their guns in 
his care. 



The New Wo74d. 23 

If you look at this church you will see that it 
has no glass panes like ours, but small and dull and 
thick ones set in lead. It is the style now to like 
that old thick glass, and to use it once more. You 
might see on the front of this church, near the door, 
the heads of wolves that had been slain in the hunt 
in the past year. 

In this church the old men sat on one side, and 
the young men were not with them. They had 
their own place. So, too, the boys did not sit by 
the girls. Most of the boys sat on the stairs, and 
there was a man there as a sort of guard to see that 
they did not talk. He had a long rod or wand in 
his hand, with a hare's foot on one end, and a 
hare's tail on the other. He would let no one go to 
sleep. If he saw a girl nod, he would touch her on 
the face with the soft brush of the hare's tail ; but 
if it were a boy who was caught in a nap, he got a 
sharp rap from the hare's foot. So you see in those 
times one could not make such a snug nest in the 
pew and take a long sleep as one does now ; and 
they had to stay three or four hours in church. It 
must have been hard for small folks not to nod at 
times. 

When they sung, it was out of a book by the 
name of ''The Bay Psalm Book," and they did not 
know more than ten tunes. In those days no one 



24 History of the United States. 

could stay from church but for a good cause, or else 
they had to pay a fine. And if a man staid from 
church a month, he was put in the stocks, or in a 
cage of wood, where all could see him and laugh 
and jeer at him. 

You do not know what stocks are in these times, 
but if you had stood in a New Eng-land town then, 
you would have seen a strange thing made of wood, 
by the road near the church. This queer frame 
of wood would hold a man fast so that he could not 
move, and you may think a day in the stocks w^ould 
be hard to bear, and would make one's bones ache. 

A house in such a town, in those days, was all 
built on the ground floor ; so there were no stairs. 
It was made of earth or logs, and had a steep roof 
of thatch. The place for the fire was built of rough 
stones. It was large enough to burn logs four feet 
long, and had so much room in it that a man and 
his wife and boys and girls could sit in it and look 
up at the sky. 

The dress in those days was not the same as it 
is now. The men wore small clothes, which came 
to the knee like a small boy's in these times, and 
they had stiff ruffs round their necks and caps of rich 
stuff on their heads. The young men wore fine 
belts, and great high boots which were made with 
a roll at the top. The girls wore silk hoods in the 



The New World. 



25 



Streets, and stiff rich gowns, with long waists, and 
lace caps on feast-days. But folks could not wear 
gay clothes if the law did not think they had means 
to spend for such fine things. 

They had some queer laws in those days. 
Those who had done wrong 
had to stand in the stocks, 
which held them by the feet 
and neck, so they could not 
get away, or they had to 
mount stools in church. If a 
man had a w^ife who had the 
name of a bad scold, a cleft 
stick was put on her tongue, ; 
or she w^as made to take a cold 
dip in a stream. I dare say 
you think those were hard 
laws, and you are glad to live in these days. But 
that was a race who had the fear of God in their 
hearts ; their aim was to do just right and to rule 
the land in the best way. 




PUR-I-TAN COS-TUMES. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE RED MEN AND THEIR WARS. 

At first, before they had time to plant the fields, 
the men could but hunt and fish for food ; but 
as years went by, they had farms, and made glass 
and things for trade ; they wove cloth of wool, and 
some from a plant that grows in the south, of which 
you may know the name. It is white and soft. 

They had not much coin, and so they had to do 
the best they could with skins and corn, or what 
they could get for trade. The first mint to make 
coin was set up in Mass-a-chu-setts in 1652. This 
coin had a pine tree on one side, and the name of 
the State. One side had a date and N. E. for New 
Eng-land. All this coin was known as '' pine-tree 
coin.'' In time the land at Plym-outh Bay and 
those near took one name, '' Mass-a-chu-setts." 

In the meanwhile the small band who had made 
homes in Vir-gin-ia had come to grief. They had 
been men of good birth in their own land, and did 
not know much of hard work. They had come in 
search of wealth. Great tales had been told of the 
gold here. It had been said one could pick up 



The Red Men and theii- Wars. 



27 



great lumps of gold, as large as a hen's ^gg, in the 
streams. They found that all this was not true, 
and that a man had to work hard to live. They 
grew sick, and death came in their midst to make 
thmgs more sad ; so that they lost more than half 
of their small band. 




I 

'ft ft ■ 



JOHN SMITH. 



BUUD-ING IxNT VIR-GIN-1 \ 

ga One man, J o h n 

^ Smith by name, did 
great things for them. 
He had been brave 
from his birth. He 
had been in wars oft, 
and once he built him 



28 History of the United States. 

a lodge of boughs in a wood and took his books 
with him, that he might learn the art of war. 
Once he went to fight the Turks. He is said 
to have been sold as a slave. It may be all these 
tales are not true ; but it is true he taught his 
own friends in Vir-gin-ia how to live. He got them 
to build a fort and log huts for the cold times. He 
made friends as far as he could of the In-cli-ans, so 
that he could get boat loads of food from them. 
He said that '' he who would not work might not 
eat ; " so no man could be a drone in the hive. 
Each one must learn to swing the axe in the woods 
or to hunt and to fish. 

Once the In-di-ans took him and they told him 
that he must die. Their great chief Pow-ha-tan had 
said the word ; so his head was laid upon a stone, 
and a huge war club held up to strike the blow. But 
a young girl was seen to spring to his side, throw 
her arms round his neck, and pray that he might 
be set free. She was the pet of the tribe, for she 
was the child of their chief; and so Cap-tain Smith 
was set free. You may be sure he was full of 
thanks to his kind young friend, and it is said she 
might have been seen on her way to James-town 
more than once, as time went on, with small stores 
of corn for the white men. And when she grew up 
a white man made her his wife. 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



29 



But at last a bad wound made Cap-tain Smith 
go back to Eng-land, and things grew worse and 
worse in Vir-gin-ia. Food was more and more 
scarce, and a sad time came, which was long known 
as ''Starving Time." It was in 1609. At last 
they all made up their minds to go back to their 
old home. None shed a tear as 
the sun rose on that day ; they had 
known bad times in the new land, 
and did not grieve to go. But as 
their ship made its way down the 
bay, they met Lord Del-a-ware, 
with a great stock of food, and 
new men to swell the ranks. So 
they were glad to turn back and 
try the place once more ; and in 
the course of time they throve and 
built and spread, and that part of | 
the land made a new State, which 
we know as Vir-gin-ia. In that 
State was first grown a weed which you have seen 
men smoke and chew. 

The folks in Mass-a-chu-setts went by the name 
of '' Pu-ri-tans." They had left their old home that 
they might pray to God in their own way, and they 
thought that their own way was the right one. 
When men came in their midst who did not think 




TO-BAC-CO PLANT. 



30 History of the United States 

as they did, they were sent out of the place. There 
was a class called Ouak-ers, or Friends, who were 
mild, and did all they could for peace ; but they 
thought they had their rights as well as the rest, 
and might serve God in their own way. They did 
not take part in wars, and would not bear arms, 
They would not hire a man to preach for them ; 
but when they met, each one spoke as he felt the 
thought come in his heart. They kept the laws, 
and did to all men as they would have them to do 
to them. They said ''thee and thou " for ''you," and 
"yea and nay" for "yes and no;" but this could 
hurt no one, and it seems strange to us that they 
were not let stay in the place. They had to fl^^ ^^r 
their lives, and four were put to death. In 
days all men are free to serve God in their own \. 

And in that time there was one man to raise 
his voice for the poor Quak-ers, and all who were 
like them. This man was Rog-er Will-iams. He, 
held that the State had no right to say what men 
should think and feel. You may be sure those who 
were high in place did not like to hear that ; so he 
had to fly from his home one cold day, and for a time 
he hid in the woods. But the In-di-ans gave hin. 
a home, and one chief made him a gift of a piece of 
land, which he called " Prov-i-dence," as it was to 
him like a gift from God. And so the State of 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



31 



Rhode Isl-ancl, where this town was built, was 
known as a place where thought was free. The 
Quak-ers were glad to .find a home in that State, 
v/here they could dwell in peace. 




IN-DI-ANS RID-ING. 



In 1675, a war, known as King Phil-ip's war, 
broke out in Mass-a-chu-setts. King Phil-ip was 
an In-di-an chief who saw that the white man 
would soon own all the land, and he knew that 



32 History of the United States. 

meant death to his race. He made a plan to kill 
all the white men. The first blow fell on the 
Lord's day, as the folks were on their way home 
from church. The men flew to arms, and did not 
dare to lay them down when they were in the field 
at work, or at their homes. When they went to 
church they would stack them at the door. 

King Phil-ip and his men made their camp in a 
great swamp, where it was hard for the white men 
to reach them. Here they laid iap a store of food, 
and had great tribes of red men. They would not 
fight in the wide fields, but would skulk in nooks, 
and rush out and hold all the land in fear, for the 
foe would seem to be on all sides. At last they 
were made to leave their strong hold, and could 
find no place to hide. There was a fight, and the 
In-di-ans fell thick and fast. Phil-ip ran, but one 
of his own tribe, who had a grudge, shot him dead. 
He had done all he could for his own folk, but fell 
by the hand of one of them at last. 

All this time the King of Eng-land was at the 
head of this land as well, and the men he sent were 
wont to rule things with a high hand. They would 
not grant what our men thought to be their rights. 
Dutch ships had come in to trade for furs with the 
In-di-ans. Some of the crews stayed here and made 
their homes in a place they called New Am-ster"- 











"%, 



34 



History of the United States. 



dam. It is now known by the name of New York. 
These first Dutch men bought the land from the 
In-di-ans, and it was to go to their heirs through 
all time. 

A band of Swedes made their home in Del-a- 
ware. A Quak-er by the name of Will-iam Penn 




IN-DI-AN PIPES. 



bought a grant of land from the King. He thought 
to make a home for all his sect, who had as hard 
a time in Eng-land as they did here. He sent a 
band of these men here, and the next year he came 
too. He met the In-di-ans by a great elm tree. 
He was a kind and good man, and would not take 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



their land from them. He bought it and made 
them his friends. '' We will live in love with Wil- 
liam Penn and his heirs," said they, ''as long as 
the sun and moon shall shine." And it is said that 
to this day a red man is loathe to shed Quak-er 
blood. 

In 1683, Penn bought 
land from the Swedes and 
laid out a town, to which he 
gave the name of Phil-a- 
del-phia. It stood in the 
midst of a wood, and the 
wild deer ran by the men 
who came to take a look at 
their new home. When 
Penn came, he sent out a 
call for all the men to meet 
in one place, and there he 
met with them, and they 
laid out the code or kind 
of laws they were to have. 
This code was known as 
''The Great Law." No one could vote that did not 
have faith in Christ ; and all might pray to God in 
their own way. So you see the Ouak-ers did not 
wish to force men to think as they did. They felt 
that was not right or just. 




36 



History of the United States. 



Penn did all he could for his sect, and was mild 
and good to the red men. He said to them, ''We 
meet on the broad path of good laith and good will. 
I will deal with you in love. We are one flesh and 
blood." 

So our land grew, and State by State was laid 

out, and towns were built, and all this time the 

King: of Enof-land was at the head of the whole. 

-I • 
There were more In-di-an wars; for the red men 

gave the new folk no peace. They would come 

down from the depths of the woods of Can-a-da on 

their snow shoes, and drag men and their wives 




IN-DI-AN SNOW SHOE. 



from their beds and scalp them and set their homes 
on fire. Many a child, too, had to fly with the rest 
in the cold night, with bare feet and few clothes on, 
to seek a place to hide from this fierce foe. 

In 1754, a war broke out which we call the 
'' French and In-di-an War." The Eng-lish had at 
this time a great strip of land on our coast which 
they held as their own. It was like a string to the 



The Red Men and their Wars. 37 

great bow of French land, which went from Que- 
bec to New Or-leans. Both French and Eng-Hsh 
laid claim to part of the land ; and those who had 
the wish to live in peace could not but look on in 
fear. 

The French built three forts, and that made all 
feel that they meant to hold the land. A young 
man by the name of George Wash-ing-ton, was sent 
to ask that they should pull down these forts. You 
have heard of George Wash-ing-ton, I know. You 
have been told that he was ''first in peace, first in 
war, and first in the hearts of all." You have, I 
am sure, heard the tale of the fruit tree that he cut, 
and how he could not tell a lie to save him. He 
was a boy then, and some one had made his heart 
glad with the gift of a small axe. What should 
a boy do with such a thing, if he could not cut with 
it ? So George went round to try the sharp edge 
of his axe, and, as bad luck would have it, he came 
on a young fruit tree. It may be that the fruit was 
of a rare kind, and so when it was found that the 
bark of the tree had been cut in such a way that 
one could hope for no more fruit, the cry rang out 
on all sides, "Who has done this deed ?" 

Our small boy was not at peace in his own 
mind. He did not know in what shape the wrath 
miorht fall on him ; but he came forth in a brave 



2 8 History of the United States. 

way and said, '' I did it, Father, I can not tell a lie. 
I cut it." We are glad there has been one boy 
who could not tell a lie, and we hope there are some 
in our own times. 

So this George Wash-ing-ton, then a young 
man, was sent to the French man who was at the 
head of the forts, to say that he must take them 
down at once. He had a hard time to get there, 
for it was cold, and the streams were big with 
the rains. The snow fell and froze as it fell. His 
horse gave out, and he had to go on foot. He had 
one man with him, and they struck out in to the 
woods. They had to cross a stream on a rude raft, 
and they were caught in the ice. It bore them on 
with great speed, and when Wash-ing-ton threw out 
his pole to check the speed, he fell in the stream. 
But he knew how to swim, and so he got to land. 
When day came, it grew still more cold, and the 
stream froze in such a way that he could walk on 
it to the place where he would be. 

The men at the French forts would not say that 
they would give them up. In fact, they made boasts 
that they could hold them in spite of all, and so the 
war went on. The French would dart out and 
seize Eng-lish ships, and then the Eng-lish would 
march on the French, and do them all the harm 
they could. Wash-ing-ton fought on the side of the 



The Red Men and their Wars. 39 

Eng-Hsh in this war. Once the In-di-ans laid in 
wait for them in the wood, and as the men were on 
the march with their flags and beat of drum, they 
heard the fierce war whoop on all sides. The Brit- 
ish troops did not know how to deal with such a 
foe ; but our men sprang down and fought them in 
their own way. 

One chief made a vow that he would kill Wash- 
ing-ton. Four balls were sent through his clothes. 
Twice his horse was shot. Gen-er-al Brad-dock, 
who was at the head of the Eng-lish troops, was 
shot and borne from the field to die. There was a 
great fright, and the men fled on all sides. Wash- 
ing-ton did what he could to save them from the 
foe, like a brave man, But the French went on 
and built more forts, and our men were at their 
wits' end to hold their own with foes on all sides. 

There were six tribes of the red men who were 
their friends, and I would tell you their names if 
they were not too long and hard. 

But you will find in the State of New York 
lakes and streams which bear the same names. 
We ought to bear them in mind, as they were of 
great use in those times. So it was thought best 
for all our men to meet in a town by the name of 
Al-ba-ny, to fix on a way to keep these six tribes 
our friends, and to join with them to fight the 



40 History of the United States. 

French. Al-ba-ny was then a small town with few 
in it; but it had a stone fort. Here our men met 
the chiefs and had a talk with them. The chiefs 
told our clan they were not so wise and brave as 
the French, or they would build forts like them. 

But there was one wise man in our midst, Ben- 
ja-min Frank-lin. He had been a poor boy, so 
poor that when he went in to the great town of 
Phil-a-del-phia, he had but a few cents. But he 
knew how to print ; and more than that he was 
fond of books, and so could learn all sorts of things. 
He brought with him a small print on which was 
shown a snake cut in parts. Each part had on it 
the name of one of the States. He said they must 
be made one or die, and that to be one was the way 
to be great. But our men did not see their way 
clear to do this yet. We know they made the 
States one in time. 

The death of Gen-er-al Brad-dock was a great 
blow to their hopes. They saw that all the red- 
coats, as we call the Eng-lish, were not brave ; but 
could run as fast as the rest. Still they took some 
forts, with long names, from the French in this war. 
They made a move on them at Que-bec, with Gen- 
er-al Wolfe at the head of our troops. 

Quebec was one of the strong forts of the world. 
At first Gen-er-al Wolfe lost at all points. But he 



42 History of the United States. 

found at last a way to go in boats. With no noise 
they made their way to land, and up a steep hill, 
and at dawn the F'rench woke to see red-coats on 
all sides. Their Gen-er-al Mont-calm led them 
out of the fort to fight. If he had not, he might 
have won the day, for the fort was strong. But he 
chose to fight in the wide field, and so we won. 

At the time of the fight, Gen-er-al Wolfe, who 
had been struck by a death shot, heard shouts of 
joy, '' They fly — they fly ! " '' Who fly ! " came from 
his white lips. ''The French." "Then praise God, 
I die at peace," he said, with his last breath. 

Gen-er-al Mont-calm, too, on the French side, 
had a wound, and was told he could not live. " I 
am glad of it," he said, "for then I shall not live to 
see my town yield to the foe." So you see they 
were two brave men who fell that day. In five 
days a peace was made with France ; for she gave 
up most of the land to which she had laid claim. 

But there were some of the red men who did 
not want this peace with the Eng-lish. They had 
seen the red-coats run away from them, and they 
thought they might now strike a blow for their own 
homes and land. The French made them think 
they would help them. "The King of France has 
but slept for a time," they said, "but he will soon 
wake up, and then he will drive the foe from the 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



43 



homes of the red men, and give them back their 

land." 

There was one brave chief, Pon-ti-ac, who heard 




IN-DT-AN CHIEF. 



all this with a glad heart. '' I will live and die a 
French man," he said, and he sent men to each 



44 



History of the United States. 



town to bear a belt with red or black beads on it, 
and a knife with a red stain on it ; these meant 
war. The knife was of the kind with which they 
were wont to scalp the foe, and the red stain told 
that deeds of blood were at hand. When this 





UNDER SIDE OF HEAD. 

STONE TOM-A-HAWK. 



belt and knife were kept, Pon-ti-ac knew that the 
chiefs there would join the war. Their first move 
was on a fort at De-troit. 

This was Pon-ti-ac's plan. He would go some 
day to the fort with some men and ask leave to 
come in and show them a war dance. While some 



The Red Men and their JVars. 45 

were In the dance, a few would stroll through the 
fort and see all that could be seen. Then they 
would go once more as if for a call, with arms hid 
in their clothes, and strike down the white men 
when they did not look for it. The first part of 
this plan went on all right ; but one of the squaws, 
who was a friend to the head man of the fort, told 
him what the red men meant to do. So when Pon- 
ti-ac and his men went in the fort, each with his 
gun hid in his clothes, they found ranks of men 
with arms to meet them, and they were glad to get 
out with their lives. 

But Pon-ti-ac would not give up, for he made 
more friends, and laid siege to De-troit in 1763. It 
was a long siege for the red man, but it held out, 
though food was scarce, and the men in it felt that 
they must soon starve. Pon-ti-ac at last had to 
make peace, and met his own death at the hands of 
a red man, who was mad with drink ; and so the 
French and In-di-an war came to an end. 




CHAPTER IV. 

THE WAR THAT MADE US FREE. 

For a time all were at peace ; but at last a war 
broke out that took more time, and cost more men, 
than all the wars of the past. You have heard of 
it, it may be, by the name of the Rev-o-lu-tion. 

There are some old men who fought in that war, 
who are alive this day. You see the cause of this 
war came out of what our men thought to be their 
wrongs. They thought the rule of Eng-land too hard, 
and that they should have their own men to rule them. 
They would have gone on as they were, if they had 
thought that Eng-land was just to them ; but she 
put a tax on the things they had to use. She had 
a large debt to pay, and so she thought it fair our 
men should help to pay it ; and our men held that 
they ought to have a voice as to what the tax should 
be, and fix what they knew to be right. 

Do you know what a tax means ? It meant, in 
this case, that when our men bought a thing, they 
had to pay a few cents more than its real price, and 
these few cents were to go to Eng-land. Of course 
these few cents from all sides grew to be a good 



The War that made us Free. 47 

sum, and was quite a help. Eng-land, at this time, 
made a law which we know bv the name of the 
*' Stamp Act." This law, which gave to Eng-land 
a tax on ail deeds, was one great cause of the wrath 
of our men. One man made a speech on it that 
was put in print, and the boys in the schools spoke 
it. In all the States men took the same view ; so 
that the Stamp Act may be said to have lit the fire 
which in time made such a blaze. 

In all the States men stood up for what they 
thought their rights, and they made up their mind 
that they would not pay this tax on Eng-lish things, 
but would learn to make them of their own. Men 
and their wives took a vow that the fine clothes 
from their old home should not tempt them, but 
they would spin and weave, and wear what they 
made, though it might be poor and coarse. One 
brave dame wrote to her friends, " I hope there are 
none of us but would wrap up in the skins of sheep 
and goats to keep us warm, if we must else pay a 
tax which is not just on the goods of Eng-land." 

The wrath at the Stamp Act grew more fierce 
each day, and the men who were sent to put it in 
force did not dare to do so. One was caught and 
made to say that he would give the thing up. He 
was made to fling up his hat and cry as they told 
him, three times, in words which meant that they 



48 History of the United States. 

were right and the King was wrong. No one was 
found so bold as to put the Stamp Act in force ; 
and the news went to the King and set him in a 
great rage. Some of their own great men were on 
our side, and were glad we did not yield. 

At last the King gave up the Stamp Act, but 
said he had a right to tax us as he chose. There 
was great joy here at the news that the Stamp Act 
was to be heard from no more. The bells were 
rung, and flags were flung out on the breeze, and all 
who were held for debt were made free. For a year 
there was no more heard of a tax ; but then a new 
act came. This tax was made on tea and glass, 
and such things, which were in use all the time. 
This woke new wrath, and troops had to come out 
to keep the peace, which our men said they would 
not bear. The boys from the schools felt the wrong, 
and would call the ''red-coats" in scorn by that 
name ; and the young men made a vow that they 
would drive them from the town. 

There were street fights each day ; and the men 
were more and more set to have their rights. The 
folk wore the rough clothes which they spun and 
wove, and would not buy a yard of Eng-lish cloth. 
Then they sought to find some plant that they 
might use for tea, so that they would not have to 
buy tea and pay the tax on it. They must have 



The War that made tis Fj^ee. 49 

had some queer drinks at that time. When the 
King found they were so set in their way, he gave 
up all but the tax on tea. Then he sent three large 
ship loads of it here, in the hope that our folk would 
want it so much when they saw it, that they would 
be glad to pay the tax. 

But our men had made up their minds that this 
tea should not land. So when the tea ships came 
in, a guard was set on them by our men as they lay 
at the wharf, so that the tea should not be brought 
to shore. A large crowd of men met in a Hall in 
Bos-ton, to say what should be done with the tea; 
and at last they gave out, that if the tea were sent 
back where it came from, all would be well. But 
the head man, who was sent here to rule us by the 
King, would not do this, and said so. When this 
was told to the crowd, a war-whoop was heard at 
the porch, and some men in the dress of In-di-ans 
made a rush down to the wharf, and went on board 
of the three tea ships, and cast all the chests of tea 
in the bay. Then they went home in peace and did 
no one harm. This was the '' Bos-ton Tea Par-ty," 
and is so known at this day. 

At New York and Bos-ton they did not try to 
land the tea when they heard of this, but took it 
back. At one time the tea was set on fire. All 
this made our men more and more set on their own 



50 History of the United States. 

way; and the King grew in a rage with them. He 
made some strong laws, sent troops to Bos-ton, and 
put in force a bill called a Port Bill, which would 
not let a boat go in or out the port, save that it 
brought food or wood. One of their own men stood 
up and said this was a ''bill to make us slaves." 
And the wood and food had to be brought in a new 
route, and not straight in the bay. Not a stick of 
wood or a pound of flour could be brought in a row 
boat, or straight in from a near point ; it must all 
go round to the place where the Eng-lish saw fit, 
where they could stop it and see just what was 
there. 

Of course this was hard for the good folk of 
Bos-ton, and they did not bear their wrongs in 
peace. They had gifts sent them by land — of grain 
and salt fish and sheep. From the South came 
flour and rice, and some times gold for the poor. 
So that the Port Bill made all feel to them like 
friends, for all towns took up the cause of Bos-ton 
as their own. 

This was just what the wise men at the court of 
King George had said would be the case. They 
knew it would make our folk more strong to drive 
them with hard laws to fight. And so it came to 
pass, as the two great men, Burke and Fox, had 
said, King George was set in his way, and would 



The War that made us Free. 51 

not change, but did his best to push the laws 
through. The Bos-ton Port Bill was one of the 
things that made the States one. For they had 
but one mind on these harsh laws, and stood as 
one man for the rig^ht. The dav when this Port 
Bill was first put in force, the Town Hall in one of 
the towns was hung with black, as for a death ; 
the Bill was on it, and the toll of bells was heard 
all day. 

If we could have stood in Bos-ton in those days, 
we would have seen that there was not much work, 
and no ships at the wharves but those of Eng-land. 
There were guns in view, and men with red-coats 
in the streets. There were tents on the green, and 
clubs that met each night, to talk of this strange 
turn in things, and what was best to do. They 
did not want war, but saw no way to get out of it. 
Great men spoke of it here and there, and each 
speech was read at the clubs. 

*'We must fight," grew to be the cry. But there 
were some, of course, who felt sad at all this, who 
thought it wrong not to do the will of the King in 
all things. They said this land would come to 
grief, for we were the ones who had the most to 
lose by war. These men had the name of '*To-ries," 
and the rest did not look on them as friends, but 
held them as foes. Some of these men went back 



52 



Histo7y of the United States. 



to their old homes, and came here in the troops of 
the King to fight their old friends. Some did not go 
and came round to new views, and took part in the 
wars that came to pass in time. All knew that the 
ranks of the King would be made of men who had 
fought in wars, and were known to be brave ; while 
on our side they would be raw men, who did not 
know the art of war. But still our men were brave, 
and they said, with strong hearts, ''The strife may 
be long, but the end is sure. We will fight for our 
homes, for our lands, for the right. We will be 
free ! " ♦ 




ll'fll"lLh!!,>. :,?;'?',,<5'!i)i!liii!l!J;. 



CHAPTER V. 



THREE GREAT FIGHTS. 



In each town, at this time, men thought but of 
war, and how to train for it ; so that in case of need 
each one could spring to arms at once. Guns were 
put in a safe place, and stores of food were bought. 
The Brit-ish in their turn kept watch on all, and 
more troops were brought in. 

Our men made a plan, that when it should be 
known that a large force of the Brit-ish were to move 
out of Bos-ton at night, a light should be hung out of 
the North Church by way of a sign. One night the 
watch by the Charles saw the light gleam high on 
the church, and they knew some move was on hand. 
At once all was stir and noise. Men rode here and 
there to find out what it meant. One went in a 
boat, and then took a fleet horse to seek out two of 
the wise and great men, and see what was best to 
do. The man who took this ride, and went from 
house to house with a call to those who slept, was 
Paul Re-vere. There is a song this day on that 
ride. 

You may be sure there was no more sleep in 



54 History of the United States. 

a house that night. When he rode by — '' Do not 
make so much noise," said one on guard. 

" Noise," said Paul Re-vere, '' there will be 
noise ere long ; the foe is on us ! " 

All this time the Eng-lish troops had made a 
swift, still march. They thought no one had seen 
or known their move ; but all at once the bells in 
each church rang out a wild peal. In each town 
the church bell sent a call to each home. So it was 
plain that all was known. Paul Re-vere and the 
scouts had done the work well. The Brit-ish sent 
back for more troops „ They came, and they were 
told to hold the bridge at Con-cord. But when 
Ma-jor Pit-cairn, who was at the head of the Brit- 
ish, came to Lex-ing-ton at dawn, he found a great 
crowd of men with arms. 

''What do ye here?" he said, in wrath, ''go to 
your homes ! Why don't ye lay down your arms ?" 
But as they made no move to go, his troops sent 
forth a fire on them, which they gave back with a 
will. Eight of our men got their death wounds that 
day, and this was the first blood shed in the war. 

The Brit-ish then gave three cheers and set out 
on a march to Con-cord. The people of that town 
made haste to move their stores of food and arms 
to a safe place in the woods. Their scouts took the 
North bridge, and could see that the Brit-ish were 



Three Great Fights. 55 

in the streets of the town ; that they had set the 
court house on fire, and cut down the pole, and laid 
waste the stores they found. So the men on the 
bridge made up their minds they would try to drive 
this foe out. There were but few of them, but they 
had strong hearts. 

One of their head men said, " I have not a man 
\\\\o fears to go." He was the first who was shot, 
and fell dead. Still they went on and made a brave 
fire, so that the Brit-ish set out to run. But they 
could not go back as they came ; for by this time 
our men for miles round, came in on all sides. 
Some were in their shirt sleeves, they had come in 
such haste ; but each one had a gun in his hand, 
and took his place back of a tree or stone wall, 
where he could get good aim. One of the Brit-ish 
wTote home that the men came so fast, they would 
seem to drop from the sky. 

At each step the Brit-ish troops took, a shot 
would come from some side, and a man would fall 
dead. At last such a fear came on our foe, that 
they broke into a run. They did not know what 
to do. They had no more shot, and could not give 
back the fire. One of them wrote, '' They had to 
lie down for rest on the ground, and their tongues 
hung out of their mouths like dogs spent by the 
chase." All the way to Bos-ton they felt the 



56 History of the United States. 

fire of our men, and they were glad to get back to 
their great ships, the men of war, and rest where 
they could be safe. They had lost three times more 
men than the A-mer-i-cans. 

There was a great stir in the court of the King 
when the news was brought that their troops had 
run from a hand full of raw men, who had no skill 
in the art of war. Poor Lord Per-cy, who had been 
at the head of the Eng-lish, came in for hard names, 
though he was a brave man. They were mad, and 
had to give vent to their wrath on some one. . In 
A-mer-i-ca it was felt that this was the first blow 
struck; and Sam-u-el Ad-ams, when he heard the 
news at Lex-ing-ton, said, ''Oh, what a grand day 
this is ! " for he knew this strife would not end till 
all the States were free. 

There were some hills near Bos-ton, and our 
men knew that there was a plan to gain them, and 
make a place for Eng-lish troops on them. You 
see, if the foe had such high ground, they could have 
a grand chance to fire down on those in the town. 
So our men stole out by night and threw up earth 
works, and took all the troops they could get from 
all parts, and put them in charge there. In the 
mean while they sent their wives and young ones 
out of the town, so that none but Brit-ish troops 
were left there. They ; made no noise in their 



Three Great Fights. 57 

march that night ; no one heard them, and the 
bells in the church struck twelve ere they dug a 
sod. But they were soon at work, and could hear 
the guard on the man-of-war cry out each hour, 
'^ All's well." 

When the day came, and the sun rose, the earth 
works were seen from the ships, and at once they sent 
out a fire on them. So in Bos-ton the troops woke 
to see the true state of things, and were not slow to 
do their best. But our men went on with their 
work, spite of the shots. One of the foe had a 
glass through which he could see each move of our 
men round the works. ''Will they fight?" said he. 
'' To the last drop of their blood," said one who 
stood near. 

So they made up their minds to lose no time, 
but to make a raid on the works that day. It was 
a hot day in June. Part of our men stood by a rail 
fence, on the edge of a hill, by the name of Bun-ker 
Hill; part were back of the mounds which w^ere 
but half made. Then the rail fence was made to 
screen the men back of it, by a lot of new mown 
hay, put in to fill up the gaps. 

The Brit-ish troops went in boats, and took their 
stand on the bank of the Charles. They had two 
men to our one, and were full of skill in the use of 
arms. Our men had come in from the farm or the 



58 Histojy of the United States. 

shop. They did not know what a drill meant ; but 
their place was more safe back of the earth works, 
while the troops of the foe were out in full sight 

in the field. It is a 
grand sight ; the long 
lines, the red coats 
and white pants of 
the B r i t-i s h ; the 
white cross belts, the 
beat of drums, the 
play of fifes. The 
sky is clear and hot. 
Great Vv^hite clouds 
sail on the blue. The 
folks crowd on the 
roof of each house 
in the town. 

So our men laid 
in wait, as the troops 
took up a slow march 
on them. The Eng- 
lish found the day 
hot, and they had 

JO-SEPH WAR-REN. i.1. * J T J 

their arms and lood 
to weigh them down. But they had no doubts, and 
their march was sure. They would fire now and 
then, and few shots fell on them. On they came. 




Th7'-ee Great Fights. 



59 



till they got ten rods from the earth works. Then 
the word rang out on our side, " Fire ! " When 
the smoke was gone it was seen that the dead lay 
on the ground here and there ; and those who were 
left had set off to run. 

A great shout went up from the forts ; a cheer 
came back from those at the rail fence. They, too, 
had held back their fire to the last, and 
then three fourths of those who had 
set out to chase them fell in the ranks, 
and the rest ran. 
Gen-er-al Put-nam 
was one of our great 
men in this fight. 
When the foe came 
on, he had said to 
his men, "Aim 
low ; wait till you 
can see the whites 
of their eyes," and 
their aim was sure. 
When they saw the Brit-ish troops in flight, they 
thought they would give them chase ; but they had 
no more shot, and so could not make good what 
they had won. They fell back with sad hearts, one 
by one, and lost more as they did so than they had 
done in the fight. 




PLAN OF BUNK-ER HILL. 



MON-U-MENT. 



6o 



History of the United States. 



This was the fight of Bunk-er Hill, and though 
the A-mer-i-cans did not win the day, they made 
plain to all men that they had stout hearts, and 
could deal a blow for their rights. In this fight 
Gen-er-al War-ren lost his life. 





q'9l|5,|^ 




FANEUIL HALL. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FIRST IN WAR FIRST IN PEACE. 

The first thing George Wash-Ing-ton was heard 
to ask when news came of this fight was, " Did our 
men stand fire ? " And when he was told that they 
did, he said, ''Then the rights of our land are safe." 
From this day our men took heart and were of good 
cheer. The Brit-ish lost one in four of their men 
in that fight ; and on our side we did not lose half 
as much. In Eng-land men did not know what to 
make of so great a loss to their troops from so small 
a force as ours. 

In this land there was a call for more troops, 
and George Wash-ing-ton was put at their head. 
He had shown that he was a brave and true man. 
He came from Vir-gin-ia, his home, and met the 
rest 'neath a great elm tree in Cam-bridge. This 
tree is known as the *' Wash-ing-ton Elm " to this 
day. All felt a wish to see this brave man, who 
had no small fame ; they came from all sides to 
greet -him, and saw a man more than six feet tall, 
with a broad chest, large hands and feet, a fine face, 
a clear eye, and the air of one born to rule. He 



62 History of the United States. 

wore a blue coat, with buff small clothes, and a 
black plume In his hat. 

Wash-ing-ton saw, in his turn, a crowd of men 
of all sorts and kinds, rude and rough in their looks, 
and with odd kinds of arms, no two of which were 
alike, in their hands. Some were in old coats, some 
in their shirt sleeves. No state suits or gold bands 
or fine plumes were there. And when Gen-er-al 
Wash-ing-ton went round to the camp, he found 
things were in a bad state. Some had straight lines 
of tents, neat and nice, but most were in small huts 
made of boards or stones or turf. The food was 
rough and scarce, and the men had not the first 
means for war; not as much as would load their 
guns more than a few times. 

It would not have been strange if Wash-ing-ton 
had felt his heart sink at such a sight. But he 
went to work in a brave way to do the best he 
could. Some store ships of food fell, by good luck, 
in the hands of our men, who had been sent out to 
get what they could ; so that food was not so scarce. 
But still they had no food for their guns, and could 
not march on the foe. 

The Brit-ish troops still held Bos-ton ; but could 
not get food and wood for fires. The small-pox, 
too, broke out in their midst. They had to pull 
down an old house now and then and burn it to 



First in War — First in Peace. 63 

keep warm ; and they sent crowds out of the town 
to be fed. They put troops in each church, and 
made a play house of the Town Hall. At times 
they would send out play bills to Wash-ing-ton and 
his men. They did not want them to know that 
things were so hard with them. 

Once in this hall they had a play on the times. 
It was meant to show how they were shut in by the 
foe, and of course to make fun at the same time. 
In one part, a m.an in a dress like Wash-ing-ton, 
with a great wig, and a long sword all rust, came 
on the stage. By his side was a green lad, with an 
old gun. This was done to cast a slur on our men. 
But just then there was a cry, ''The Yan-kees are 
on Bunk-er Hill." At first this was thought to be 
a part of the play; but when Gen-er-al Howe said, 
in a loud voice, ''Men, to your posts!" there was 
great fright. Men ran, their wives fell in a faint, 
and all felt there was no fun in such a scare. In a 
short time the Eng-lish left Bos-ton ; for they could 
not be safe from the fire that came down on them 
from all the hills round. 

But they did not give up the fight. When the 
King and his court heard of Bunk-er Hill, they 
made up their minds they would rule this land, let 
it cost what it would. So they cut off our trade as 
far as they could, and they brought in all the men 



64 



History of the United States. 



they could find from all lands which would give 
them help. So you may be sure they had a great 
crowd to come on us and try to bend us to their 
will. But our folk kept up a stout heart in the face 
of all. They felt they had gone too far to go back. 
There were some wise men who were known 

as the "Con-gress," who 
had met in Phil-a-del- 
phia. They gave it as 
their mind that ''These 
States are and of right 
ought to be free ; " and 
they stuck to this text. 
The troops had to fight, 
and it was the part of 
Con-gress to raise the 
men, the pay, and the 
arms. It would seem 
that they had the worst 
^ ^^^ ^ ^ part to do. To be sure, 
/J^^^^^^,^^^^ when they thought of the 

might take 

the face of 

it must be 

said, our men had done well. Doc-tor Frank-lin 
felt that way ; but there were some rich men who 
thought it would be death to the States to make war. 




^-^^^^^^^^^ — ~2^y^ past, they 

heart. In 
such a foe 



First in War — First in Pt 



eace. 



65 



So Con-gress met to see if it were best that they 
should strike the blow at once that would make 
them free. They had more than one talk on this, 
and at first the time did not seem ripe. They were 
to break all ties with Eng-land, to pay no more 
tax, and to try to find help if they could, in their 
fight to be free. Some great men wrote out the 
plan, and you can still see it in the Hall in Phil-a- 
clel-phia. This sheet is called the '' Dec-la-ra-tion 
of In-de-pend-ence." It meant that they were 




JOHN HAN-COCK's RES-I-DENCE, BOS-TON. 



bound to be free, and so they wrote it down. It 
was made Ju-ly 4th, 1776, and that is why you 
hear the noise of fire works and see signs of joy on 
each Fourth of Ju-ly since that day. 



66 



History of the United States. 



When the men came to sign this Dec-la-ra-tlon, 
the one who wrote his name first, said, ''We must 
be one ; we must all pull the same way ; we must 
hang side by side." "Or we shall hang with none 

at our side," said 
Frank-lin. But 
no doubt there 
were sad hearts 
that day,* though 
these words did 
raise a laugh. 

They did not 
change this dec- 
la-ra-tion much 
from the way 
they wrote it 
first. There was 
one clause on 
the slave trade 
which the men 
from the South 
did not like ; so 
it was struck out. There were twelve States — though 
they did not call them States in those days — that 
gave their vote for it. New York would not vote 
at all. The bell of the State House was to ring if 
the '' Dec-la-ra-tion" should pass. This bell had 




IN-DE-PEND-ENCE HALL. 



First in War — First iii Peace. 67 

been put up years since, and one might read on it, 
though these are not just the words, '' Let all the 
land be free." So the old man who was wont to 
ring this bell, put his boy at the door of the hall 
where the men met. 

When at last the Dec-la-ra-tion should pass, the 
man who kept the door was to make a sign to the 
boy. You may think how all hearts beat when this 
boy ran out with a cry of ''Ring, ring;" and what 
a peal of joy rang out from the bell ! Then the 
Dec-la-ra-tion was read to each of the troops, and 
there were loud cheers on cheers from all sides. 
That night the form of George the Third, on horse- 
back, which had been wrought in stone, and stood 
in one of the squares, was laid low in the dust by 
the crowd. 

Yet for all this brave show, the men were sad at 
heart. They knew how poor they were, and how 
few, and the true state of the troops, and all that 
could be brought to put them down. They set out 
to make a flag of their own ; for they had all sorts 
of flags at this time. One had a pine tree on a 
white ground, and was known as the *'pine tree 
flag." On this flag were words which meant, *' Call 
to God for help." 

When Wash-ing-ton came to take the head of 
the troops, he had a new flag made with stripes of 



68 



History of the United States. 



red and white, as now ; but on one end was a red 
and white cross, hke that which marks the Brit-ish 
flag. This flag went with our troops in Bos-ton, 
when the Brit-ish took up their march out of that 

place. But, by vote of 
Con-gress, a change was 
made, and it was said that 
our flag must have red and 
white stripes, and white 
stars on a blue ground — a 
star and a stripe for each 
State. Now when they 
make a new State, they 
put a new star on our flag. 
Count them and see how 
stronof we are. 

The first man to hoist 
the new flag was Cap-tain 
Paul Jones. He was at 
the head of a man-of- 
war, and from that ship it was first flung out to 
the breeze. This is the flao^ that now waves on 
town and camp, and on our ships to all parts of the 
land. We have more stars now, but the stripes 
stay the same. 




CHAPTER VII. 



THE REST OF THE WAR. 



Up to this time, most of the fights had been 
round Bos-ton. But Wash-ing-ton now saw that 
there would be a move made on New York ; so he 
sent Gen-er-al Lee to help keep the town, and he 
soon went there too. Some men came to their 
aid from the South, and Lord Howe, with a great 
mass of Eng-lish troops, were there to meet them. 
Lord Howe had word from King George first to 
speak of peace, but he did not know to whom he 
should speak. He wrote a note to "George Wash- 
ing-ton ; " but our chief would not read it, as he 
said his true name, as head of the troops, should 
be on it. So Lord Howe wrote no more. He 
saw that the hour to fight had come. 

At first the A-mer-i-can troops came to grief, 
and Wash-ing-ton and his men had to make their 
way back for a time. The Brit-ish took heart from 
this, and our men were sad. They were poor, and 
had few clothes, and some had no shoes for that 
long, hard march ; so that one could track their 
steps by the blood on the ground. 



yo History of the United States. 

Wash-ing-ton saw there was no time to lose, and 
he must strike a swift blow. He knew there were 
troops of Ger-mans at Tren-ton, and that they still 
held to the ways of their land. Do you know the 
name of that day when you have a tree with nice gifts 
and lights hung on it ? It is the day when Christ was 
born, and which we keep to this time for His sake. 
Well, Wash-ing-ton knew these folk would cling to 
the ways of their old homes. That they would keep 
the feast and be off their guard. So on the eve of 
that day he set out to march on them with his men. 
A storm of sleet came up in the night, but they 
went on, and when the dawn rose, these brave men, 
who had come through the snow and ice, stood in 
ranks for the fight. Some one wrote a note, and a 
man ran all the way to Tren-ton to warn the Ger- 
mans. But they were at cards. The Gen-er-al had 
his cards in his hands, and it was his turn to play. 
He must look at his cards first. 

Yes, his life is at stake, but he does not know it. 
In the dim gray of the dawn our men march in on 
them. There is the sound of wheels and a shout. 
Co-lon-el Kail hears the drums beat, and the cards 
drop from his hands — too late ! He got his death 
in that fight, and all his men were held and bound. 
These things put our troops in heart once more, 
and it was the wish of all to go on ; but they had a 



The Rest of the War. 71 

hard, sad time through the days of storm and cold 
at Val-ley Forge. 

If we could see that camp at Val-ley Forge, in 
our mind's eye, we would know how much those 
poor men had to bear in this war to make us free. 
They had lost some by death, and more were ill. 
They had so few clothes to put on when they slept, 
that some sat up all night by the fires to keep warm. 
At one time there were few who had shoes, and 
the sick had to lie on the bare ground, for want of 
straw. The head men had to wear old quilts or 
bed spreads round in the camp, to keep them warm, 
for want of the right kind of clothes. 

The troops were not paid ; or the sort of pay 
they got would not buy them food. Food was so 
scarce that, at last, the pass word was, ''No food — 
no man." There were men in this camp who had 
been at the court of kings ; who had fed on rich 
food, and had wine to drink, and now they were 
like to starve. 

All this time Wash-ing-ton did his best to keep 
up the heart of his troops. He did not tell Con- 
gress how few and worn they were ; and there were 
those who gave him blame that he did not do great 
things with these few worn out men. All this time 
the Brit-ish troops in Phil-a-del-phia had what they 
chose of good fare, and led a gay life. Some of 



72 History of the United States. 

them, with Gen-er-al Bur-goyne at their head, in 
the mean time, had two or three fights with our 
men, but found they did not gain much. At last 
they were glad to go back. Just as they made a 
move to do so, our men had the luck to hem them 
in on all sides in one place and won the day. This 
was at Sar-a-to-ga. This was good news to those 
in Val-ley Forge. It brought cheer to them, and 
they felt brave to go on. 

In Eng-land men did not know what to make 
of our luck. It made a stir in France, where we 
had friends ; and some of their young men came 
here to join our troops. We had some great French 
men with us at that time. One whose name is still 
held in love by all — the great La-fa-yette. 

At this time France made a vow to us that she 
would stand our friend, and give us aid. When 
this was known in Eng-land, fears rose on all sides ; 
for they knew how much help France could give, 
and how strong it would make us. They sent men 
over to talk to us of peace, but it was too late. The 
A-mer-i-cans had no thought but to be free, and 
they would take no less than that. But these men 
still came, and thought they would see what bribes 
could do. A large sum of gold was held out to 
Gen-er-al Reed, if he would aid their cause. He 
said, " I am not worth so much ; but such as I am. 




m 



iiiiiiiSiLiiiSKiiiiiiai**^^^^^ 



74 History of the U^iited States. 

the King of Eng-land has not so much gold as 
would buy me ! " 

But the aid from France was less than they 
thought it would be. Fleets were sent, but they 
gave small help to the cause. And so the war 
went on for three years more. At times our men 
would make a good fight, and then there would be 
dark days when the foe had things all his own way. 
The Eng-lish had paid some tribes of In-di-ans to 
fight on their side ; and once there was a sad scene, 
where men and their wives and babes were put to 
death by these fierce wild men. This was not war, 
of course. We give it a much worse name. 

Then there were sea-fights. In one of these, the 
men on the ships fought three hours, and the ships 
took fire more than once; but at last the Brit-ish 
gave up. In that ship the man who took the lead 
on our side was Paul Jones. 

There is a tale told of what the brave wife of 
one of those men, to whom we give the name of 
Friends, did for our cause at this time. Gen-er-al 
Howe made his home in her house, a lone low 
brick one, at Tren-ton. He said to her one day, 
*' I want to have some friends here to night, and I 
would like to have the spare back room to meet 
them in." 

" It shall be as thee says," said Friend Ruth. 



The Rest of the War. 75 

''See that all the folks in the house are in bed 
at a good hour," said Gen-er-al Howe. 

" I will move that they go," said Friend Ruth. 

So when the men came to see Gen-er-al Howe 
that night, it was all still in the house. Friend 
Ruth let them in. 

" You may go to bed and stay till I call," said 
Gen-er-al Howe. 

Ruth went to her room and lay down awhile ; 
but did not take off her clothes. She must know 
what these men meant to do. At last she took off 
her shoes and went to the door of the room, and 
put her ear to the key hole. This is what she 
heard. Some one reads, ''Our troops will make a 
move by stealth on the foe, and we will take them 
ere they know we are on them ! " 

There was no more sleep for Friend Ruth that 
night. She lay in her bed till dawn ; but all her 
aim was to think of a plan to help our troops, and 
not to let them fall in the snare. At last she hit on 
a plan to get out of the lines. She was in need of 
some flour ; and to get flour, she must go to a grist 
mill, for they did not sell it at stores in those days. 
Gen-er-al Howe could not say he would not let her 
get flour, as he ate at her house ; so he gave her a 
pass. While they ground the grist for her at the 
mill, she rode on as fast as she could, till she came 



76 History of the United States. 

to one of our guards. She said some words to hirn 
in a low voice, and rode back, got her flour, and was 
home in no time. 

When Gen-er-al Howe came on our troops the 
next day, he found them all drawn up in rank and 
file in good trim to meet him. He thought it best 
not to have a fight at all ; and it was a strange thing 
to him how they could have known of his move. 

Down in the South there were brave men at the 
head of our troops. One was Ma-ri-on, who led his 
men through the woods by paths that were known 
to few. They gave him the name of the " Swamp 
Fox," and the Brit-ish cast slurs on him, and said 
he would not come out for a fight ^ in a bold way, 
but took their posts at night, and when they were 
off guard. But he gave them a proof of what he 
could do, when he and Greene fought them and 
won the day in a fair field. Greene made such a 
name in this fight that he took rank next to Wash- 
ing-ton from that time. 

We have to tell a sad tale now of one of our 
own men — a man, too, who had won fame in the 
war. He had shown that he was brave ; but men 
did not like him much, for he thought more of his 
own gain than of his land, and he had the w4sh for 
a high place, which he did not get. His name was 
Ben-e-dict Ar-nold, and his bad act was, that he 



The Rest of the War. >]^ 

made a plan to sell his own land to the Eng-lish. 
He wrote to the foe all he could of the moves our 
troops were to make, and their state, but he did not 
sign his own name. Once he had his camp at the 
head of some men at West Point, and he made up 
his mind to give this place, which was strong with 
forts, to the Brit-ish. This he would have done, 
and the whole land would have come to grief, but 
for a chance that brought the vile plan to light. 

One day a young man rides down the path by 
the stream. There is a wood of oak near. On the 
ground, by the trees, there are three young men. 
They have a game of cards. They have been out 
all night, and have sat down to rest. 

They hear the sound of hoofs. 

" Some one on his way to New York for trade," 
says one. 

His friend peers out. '' No ; his clothes are too 
good for that," he says. 

All three spring to their feet, and cry, '' Halt ! " 

The man on the horse stops, and says, " I hope 
you are on our side." 

'' Which side is that ?" cry the men. 

"The side of the King." 

''All right," they say; for they wish to find out 
more. 

"Thank God, I am once more with friends!" he 



78 



History of the United States. 




MA-JOR AN-DRE. 



says, as he takes out his gold watch. ** I must get 
on. I am in great haste." 

"We can not let you go," say 
the men. 

'' But I have a pass." 
"Whose?" 

" Gen-er-al Ar-nold's." 
"You must get off your horse." 
" But, I tell you, you will get in 
a scrape if you stop me. Read this 
pass." 

" No good. You said you were 
Brit-ish ; we must search you." 
" I have naught." 

** We will see. Take off your coat." 
The coat is laid off, and the boots. Ah, what 
is this ? The hand of Ar-nold in this ; and " West 
Point " the date. A shout went up, " He is a spy ! " 
He was a young Eng-lish man by the name of 
An-dre. He took his watch and purse, and said he 
would give them all, if they would let him go free. 
They would not, but took him to the near A-mer-i- 
can Post to try him. Of course, what Ar-nold had 
done all came out. He had known this would be 
the case, for as soon as the news was brought that 
An-dre was in the hands of our men, he took leave 
of his wife, gave a kiss to his boy, and sped on his 



The Rest of the War. 7g 

way to an Eng-lish ship. He got to Eng-land, and 
was paid a large sum of gold ; and they gave him a 
fine place at the head of some troops ; but no man 
would make a friend of him. The Eng-lish had 
been glad to use him, but they would not take him 
by the hand. 

You may think what a life he had. His own 
land had cast him out, but he came back to fight 
her at the head of the foe. But the new land 
where he had made his home had no real place for 
him. Once in the great house in Eng-land, where 
the wise men meet to talk of their laws, one rose to 
make a speech. But when he saw Ar-nold in a 
seat near him, he said, " I will not speak while 
that man is in the house." Long years after, when 
one of the great men of France had it in his mind 
to come to this land, he went to Ar-nold for some 
notes to his friends. Ar-nold said, " I was born in 
A-mer-i-ca. I spent my youth there ; but Ah ! I 
can call no man in A-mer-i-ca my friend." 

In the mean time An-dre, the young Eng-lish 
man, who had met Ar-nold, and got the plans 
which were to give us up in to the hands of the foe, 
was shown to be a spy. There was but one doom 
for a spy. He must be hung. All felt for his fate. 
He was young, and had a fine face, and the air of 
good birth ; but his hour had come. Tears were 



8o Histoiy of the United States. 

shed at his death ; though he was our foe. All 
knew he was a brave man, who had not been slow 
to risk his life in the cause of his land. He thought 
he was right, and took all means to serve his own 
ends. For Ar-nold, who would have sold his own, 
there was but hate, and they gave him a name which 
would serve to show what his crime had been to all 
time — Ar-nold the Trai-tor ! 

All this while the French had been our friends ; 
but they had not met with a chance to show what 
they could do, till a great fight came which made 
an end of this war. This was at a place by the 
name of York-town, in Vir-gin-ia. Wash-ing-ton 
was there with his troops, and the French Gen- 
er-al, who had a hard name, which you may learn 
one of these days, was with him at the head of his 
men. They took the best works of the Brit-ish, 
and made such a brave stand, that Lord Corn-wal- 
lis thought it would be wise to leave by night, with 
all his troops. But a storm came, and they could 
not get off, so they all had to give up to Wash- 
ing-ton. 

There was a grand scene that day, in the fall of 
1 78 1, when Wash-ing-ton and his French friends 
stood in two ranks, and their old foes took up a 
slow march by them, and laid down their arms as 
they went. Great was the joy in all the land when 



The Rest of the War, 8 1 

the news was known. Those who woke that ni^ht 
in Phil-a-del-phia, heard the watch cry, " Past two 
o'clock and Corn-wal-hs is ours ! " When the news 
came to Con-gress, they sent out word for a day to 
be set, in all the States, to give thanks to God, and 
all who were held for debt, or for crime, or what 
cause it might be, were set free, that they might 
share the great joy. 

Well might they all be glad, for this meant the 
end of the war. It had cost them dear in gold as 
well as lives ; but it had been worse for Eng-land 
than for them. The sums she had spent were vast, 
and one could not count the lives she had lost. 
Add to this the fact that she had lost this ereat 
land, which had once been all her own, and now 
was made free. Our land now took a new name. 
You can read it, I know, though it is not in short 
words, ''The U-nit-ed States of A-mer-i-ca." 




CHAPTER VIII. 



IN TIMES OF PEACE. 



When peace came, the men who had been in 
camp went to their own homes. They were all 
poor, and did not know what to do. There was no 

gold in the land, but a 
kind of cash which was 
so bad that it took more 
than you could count to 
buy a pair of shoes. Gen- 
er-al Wash-ing-ton found 
his task more hard to 
keep all in good cheer, 
now there were no fights 
on hand, than when they 
were at war. There had 
to be a tax on some things 
to keep all right, and they 
did not want to pay the 
tax, or their debts at this 
time. Wash-ing-ton felt 
that things were at loose ends, and he must make 
them more strong. 




GEORGE WASH-ING-TON. 



In Times of Peace. 83 

Each State had a wish to be first ; and it would 
seem that, with no foe to fight, they were on the 
point of war with their own selves. There was need 
of a strong hand to rule the whole land. So men 
were sent out of each State to meet in Phil-a-del- 
phia and talk of the best plan. They had a long 
talk, and at last wrote what we call the '' Con-sti-tu- 
tion." Ten of the States gave it their vote at once ; 
but three held back for a while. 

There were grand times in our land when it 
was known that the Con-sti-tu-tion was to be our 
guide; that we were to be in truth, ''The U-nit-ed 
States of A-mer-i-ca," with one will, one aim, one 
soul as it were, while time should last. 

A great crowd came out in Phil-a-del-phia to 
show their joy. Each trade had its men there, 
with the tools of the trade in their hands. There 
was a grand car, made in the shape of that bird 
which we chose as the sign of our land. It was 
drawn by six steeds, and in it sat those who were 
to judge the folk in our great courts. They held a 
staff, and on it was our ''Con-sti-tu-tion," in a frame, 
and on the top of the staff a cap, which we might 
call the cap of the free — a kind they were fond of in 
France at that time. There were ten ships on the 
river, gay with flags and gilt, to show forth the 
ten States that had cast their vote in the right way. 



84 



History of the United States, 



George Wash-ing-ton was made the first Pres-i- 
dent, and as he took his way to New York, which 
was then the seat of rule, he met joy and kind words 
on all the route. 

At Tren-ton, where he had fought, there was an 
arch thrown out on a bridge, where he must pass. 
This was hung with wreaths, and young girls stood 
with hands full of sweet buds and bloom, which 




WASH-ING-TON MADE PRES-I-DENT. 



they flung in his path, as they sung a song to greet 
him, and thank him for all he had done. 

As he drew near New York, a barge came out 
to meet him. It had a crew all in white, and was 
meant to show the States — a man for each State. 
Then more boats came to join them, with our flag 



In Times of Peace. 85 

on each. Wash-ing-ton was led in great state to 
his new home. When the time came for him first 
to meet with the folk and take the oath to be true 
to the Con-sti-tu-tion, there was such a rush to 
the place that some one said, " One might walk on 
the heads of the crowd." When Wash-ing-ton 
came out where all could see him, and the oath was 
read to him, and he took it, a great cheer rent the 
air, and a cry rang out, " Long live George Wash- 
ing-ton, Pres-i-dent of the U-nit-ed States." There 
was a flag flung out from that Hall, a peal of bells 
rang, and a blast was sent out from the guns, to 
show the joy and the love with which they took him 
for their chief. This was on April 30, 1789. 

War is bad for all folks ; for it is hard, when it 
is past, for men to learn the arts of peace. Wash- 
ing-ton found the whole land in debt. They did 
not want a tax, and the red men were still their foes. 
But in a few years he made a great change. The 
In-di-ans were put down, and France and Spain 
and Eng-land were brought to deal with us as 
friends. It was a man by the name of John Jay, 
who wrote out the terms with Eng-land, and so we 
had peace for a time. 

Just then there was a great fight in France, not 
with a foe, but in their own midst. The men there 
had seen how our land had won the day, and they 



86 History of the United States, 

had a mind to be free and have no King. They 
did not go at it in the same way that we did ; but 
shed much blood of their own folk, and cut off the 
heads of their King and Queen, and did things 
which made good men sad. But they said they 
did it all to be free. There was a reign of fright 
for a time. But at last, the mob could rule no 
more, and they were glad to take a King. 

Wash-ing-ton kept up great state, for those 
times, in his own home, and when he drove out 
he had a state coach, cream white in hue, and 
drawn by six steeds on state days. He took but one 
horse on the Lord's day, when he rode to church. 
This coach was of the shape of a half sphere, and 
had wreaths, and the forms of small fat boys with 
wings, drawn on it in gay tints. He set days for all 
to come and see him in his home. Those who 
came would see Wash-ing-ton in front of the fire 
place, and near him the band of great men who 
gave him help with their wise words. He would 
be seen in a coat of black, with a vest of white or 
pearl, and buff gloves. His hair was made white 
with a kind of dust they had in use in those days ; 
and it was put in a sort of silk bag at the back of 
his head. That was a queue. 

He would have his hat in his hand, and he 
wore a long sword. He did not shake hands with 



In Times of Peace. 87 

his guests, but made them a bow, and had some 
word for each. His wife, too, had times for her 
friends to come ; and all must be in full dress — the 
dames in low necks and short sleeves. On the 
birth day of Wash-ing-ton, men would meet to dine 
in all the large towns ; and those who made rhymes 
would write odes to the great man. There were 
some who did not like all this state and form and 
sho\y. They thought it was too much like the style 
of kings in the old land, and they would have been 
glad to have a new mode here. They did not wish 
to see a Judge in a robe of red, or the man who 
was to preach in the church in a wig, with gown 
and bands. They were for plain dress and plain 
ways. 

You may see now bits of the stiff, rich silks of 
those days, or it may be a quaint old gown, rich in 
lace, which has been kept from that time. You 
may see in your mind the dame who wore it, as she 
waves her fan, sent from France, with the head of 
Wash-ing-ton on it. The hair of this dame would 
be drawn high on her head, and made white with 
the dust of which I spoke, and put in great puffs. 
The men whose trade it was to dress hair in 
those days had such a crowd of folks to fix, that 
they had to get up at four to do the work. I 
have heard of great dames who sat up all night to 



88 History of the United States. 

keep their hair in good style for some ball, or the 
play. The men, too, thought quite as much of 
dress as their wives, and in those days they did not 
wear plain cloth suits as now. Then a man put on 
a wig, and a white stiff stock, that held up his chin ; 
a vest of white silk, it may be with rose-buds on it, 
and all the rest of his clothes were rich. 

It was the mode to have a snuff box in those 
days ; it might be of gold, or some dear stuff, with 
much work on it, and when one met a friend they 
would be as sure to stop and take a pinch of snuff 
as to lift the hat in our time. 

They gave Balls in those days, which were quite 
grand, but they did not dance in the same way as 
now. They had all sorts of slow steps and bows. 
There was a kind of stiff grace in their style, and 
some would like it more now, than 
the rush and whirl of our mode of 
to-day. The dames were borne in a 
sort of chair through the streets to 
these Balls. 

All this was the way of life with 

the rich. The poor still wore the 

sPiN-NiNG WHEEL, ^lothcs thcy spuu and wove, and they 

made their own lights, and struck fire with two 

flints. They had not seen a match then, and did not 

dream of gas, or of the strange new light which has 




In Times of Peace. 



89 



been found in our time. They went to bed with 
the chicks, and rose when the cock crew. The towns 
at the North 
throve the 
best. At 
the South 

towns were ..^^^/llv 

few, and in 

the far West 

the foot of 

man had not 

yet found its 

way. 

Those 
brave men 
who had 
first come to 
this land, 
had seen 
here and 
there in 
the South 
a strange 
plant. It 
had a sort 
of bulb full^ 
of a fine white down, and those who had seen it in 




COT-TON PLANT. 



go History of the United States. 

hot lands knew it could be spun, and cloth made 
from it. It was not hard to make it grow; but the 
white fluff was so full of seeds that it took a whole 
day to get a pound free from them. Wise men saw 
in this plant a great fund of wealth for the States. 
So they set to work to find a quick way to take the 
seed out. 

There was a man in the East who heard of this, 
and set his brain to work. He was a young man 
by the name of E-li Whit-ney ; and he had not seen 
the plant when he took it in his head that he could 
find a way to "gin" it; for that is the name of the 
work. He had to walk all the way to one of the 
towns at the South, to get the seed, and as he had 
no tools or wire, he had to make them. You may 
think that was slow work, but he had a strong will, 
and when he had made a rude ''gin," he bade his 
friends come and see how it would do. All saw 
that it would work well ; but some thieves broke in 
his house at night and stole it. So there was a long 
time that the man who made the *'gin" got nought 
for it. For those who stole it made gins like it and 
sold them. These gins did the work well and fast, 
and so there grew up a great trade for us in this 
soft white fluff 

It is made in cloth for you to wear, and is 
spread on your beds, and will take all sorts of 



In Times of Peace, gz 

bright dyes. We sell it to all the world, and 
wealth flows in on all sides. This would not have 
been the case had not the young man, E-li Whit- 
ney, made the ''gin." 

The death of one of the great men of the land 
came to pass at this time. We have told you of 
Ben-ja-min Frank-lin. He was born in Bos-ton, 
and he was the son of a poor man. But he knew 
how to print, and he set up a press in a room where 
he could print each morn the news of the day. He 
did not scorn to sell all sorts of wares as well, such 
as rags, ink, soap, and such things. He had read 
a great deal, and found out more than those round 
him knew. You have seen the sharp light play in 
the dark clouds in a storm. You know that it 
strikes at times ; it may be a house or a barn or a 
man, and that the one who is struck is apt to die. 

Well, Frank-lin thought that this light could be 
drawn down from the skies, and when he heard a 
laugh at this, he set to work to prove it. He 
sent his son out one day in a storm, with a kite in 
his hand. As a low black cloud went by, they 
saw the fierce light tear through it ; it would seem 
that the light ran down the string of the kite. 
Frank-lin had put a key on this string, and when 
he made his friends touch that key, they drew 
sparks from it. So they saw that he had found out 



92 History of the United States. 

a great thing ; and from that has come the plan of 
the rods that are now put on a house to keep it safe 
in a storm. This gave him fame here and in the rest 
of the world. He was sent to France and made 
strong friends for us there. He is said to have 
done more good works for his land than all the 
rest of the men of his time. So it is not strange 
that all felt sad when death took him from us. 

The French, too, met in their great hall to 
mourn his loss ; and one of their chiefs said, '' The 
sage whom two worlds claim as their own is dead ; " 
and they wore crape on their arms for three days, 
for his sake. 

While Wash-ing-ton had the rule of the land, 
more new States came in. The first of these was 
Ver-mont. This State was full of green hills and 
strong brave men, who had cut down the trees and 
made homes there. Once New York laid claim to 
this land, but they could not drive these brave men 
out. They thought they had a right to the soil, and 
they sent a man, by name E-than Al-len, to talk 
with the men of New York. He was met with 
gibes and sneers, but he would not yield. He said 
to them in words from the good Book, **Our gods 
are gods of the hills, so they are more strong than 
yours." 

So when the men from New York came to 



I7i Times of Peace. 93 

drive out those who had made homes in the midst 
of these hills, they found a stout foe. The Ver- 
mont boys would take those who came and tie them 
to trees and whip them with rods from the beech 
trees. To this they gave the name of "the beech 
seal;" and those from New York did not care to 
have the "beech seal" put on them more than once. 
They grew mad, of course, and they sent out bills 
in which they set forth that they would give a good 
price for the head of E-than Al-len. But in time 
peace was made in these two States, when they had 
fought side by side in the great war. And so Ver- 
mont was brought in and took that name, which 
means "Green Hills." 

The next State that came in was Ken-tuck-y. 
This land was next to Vir-gin-ia, and for a time 
held to be a part of that State. The first man who 
made his way through its wild woods and hills was 
Dan-iel Boone, who had won a name for the way 
he could go in to the nooks and glens and trap wild 
beasts for their fur. He took a small band of men 
with him, and they had no fear, but went far in 
where man had not yet trod, to hunt or fish, or 
make salt at the "Salt Licks" or springs. He built 
forts and held them with his few friends for quite a 
time, spite of the red men. But once they took him 
and bound him, and thought they could make him 



94 History of the United States. 

one of them ; so much did they hke his strength 
and pluck, but he got free. When men heard of 
his brave deeds, more came to help him. The most 
of them were from Vir-gin-ia, and brought their 
slaves with them. 

The In-di-ans were in a rage at all this new 
force, and made the best fight they could to drive 
them from the soil ; so that whole land came to be 
known as the ''Dark Land of Blood." In time 
peace was made, and the land grew to a State by 
the name of Ken-tuck-y. 

Wash-ing-ton held his post for two terms, or 
eight years, and he did not wish to serve more. A 
John Ad-ams was the choice of all for the next 
chief of our land. 

His work for his land was done. He had 
served her in her dark hour, and now he felt that it 
was time for him to rest. He was more than three- 
score years old. At his home in Mt. Ver-non he 
gave his time to the care of his land and slaves. 
He was kind to all, and a friend to his folks. He 
rode out each day at dawn to see that things were 
all right on his place. It was not in as good a 
state since the war. He wrote a great part of each 
day to his friends, and the peace and rest from his 
toils were sweet to him. 



CHAPTER IX. 



NEW MEN AND NEW LAWS. 



John Ad-ams was one of the men who gave his 
help to write out the '' Dec-la-ra-tion of In-de-pend- 
ence," of which you have been told. That was, as 
you know, the first step to make us free. In it we 
had made known that we would make our own 
laws, and no one should rule us but those in our 
own land. John Ad-ams had gone to France at 
the end of the great war, and had been one to help 
make the French our friends. In his time, Wash- 
ing-ton was made the home of the Pres-i-dents. 

This town took its name from our great chief, 
and he was the one to pick out a place for the new 
site. This home we call the White House. At 
this time France did not seem to hold to the old 
ties that had made us friends. When our men 
were sent to her courts, she would not hear them, 
and there were some sea fights with our ships. It 
would seem that a new war must come out of this, 
and Wash-ing-ton had a call from his home to take 
the head of the troops. But there was no war, for 
Na-po-le-on, a young man, who had shown great tact 



96 History of the United States. 

and strength, got things in his own hands in France, 
and we made peace through him with the French. 

There were some who did not hke John 
Ad-ams, for the laws that he made. One of these 
laws gave him the right to seize and send out of 
our States those who came here from strange lands, 
though none could prove they had done wrong. 
So, though he was a great man, he did not get votes 
for a new term. 

And now the hour had come when Wash-ing- 
ton must die. All felt how much they were in debt 
to him, for the way he had led them in the war, and 
his wise rule in time of peace. He had made all 
men his friends in the end, and in the great hall at 
Wash-ing-ton, it was then said — the words live to 
this day, that he was " First in war, first in peace, 
and first in the hearts of all." He was sick a long 
time ; and his last words were : '' I die hard, but I 
do not fear to go ! " 

No new States came in while Ad-ams had the 
rule ; but the land grew in worth, and more homes 
were made here. But there was a great stretch of 
wild land still, where the bears and the wolves could 
prowl in the woods at will, and no smoke from the 
fire on a home hearth was seen in the air. 

Jef-fer-son was the third man whom the land 
chose to be their chief. He was well known as one 



New Men and Neiv Laws 97 

of the first to frame the Dec-la-ra-tion. At this 
time there was a war of France with Eng-land, and 
we had hard work to keep clear of both. For 
France had made a law that we should not help 
her foe ; and Eng-land had done the same. And 
both sides would take our ships at sea, If they 
thought they made trade with the foe. So our 
ships had hard times, and did not know what way 
to steer, lest one should seize them and take all they 
had on board. More than this, Eng-land said she 
had a right to search our ships and see if we had 
her men on board of them, and to take such if 
found. And once or twice it came to pass, that 
they took the whole crew of a ship, so that there 
was not a man left in it to sail it. 

One day a man-of-war went to search one of our 
ships for men, they said, who had run from them. 
They were in sight of one of our forts ; but when 
our men would not let the search be made, a fire 
was made on our ship, and they took four of the 
men, and hung one of them. This was bad for our 
trade, and made a great stir in our midst, and woke 
up the old wrath at Eng-land. 

So Con-gress, with a wish to give Eng-land tit 
for tat, as you would say, made a law that we should 
not trade with her, and our ships should not go out 
of our own ports. But this, you know, hurt us more 



98 History of the United States. 

than it hurt Eng-land ; and, for a time, Jef-fer-son 
came in for a share of the hard thoughts, as though 
it were all his fault. Those whose trade had been 
hurt by the law felt as if he had been to blame, and 
the cause of loss to them. There were, too, on the 
sea a band of sea thieves, as we might call them. 
They were men who came from a wild race, far off, 
who would seize ships when they could, and take 
all the crew and hold them for slaves, till their 
friends would pay a good price for them. It was 
no strange thing in those days to hear read out in 
church the names of those who were slaves to such 
men. Great sums of gold were sent to set our 
men free. At last we made some terms with these 
thieves of the sea, but they would not keep the 
peace. 

Then John Ad-ams sent out four ships to fight 
these men. We did not own but six war ships in 
those days. One of these had the bad luck to run 
on the shore in that strange land, so the foe took it, 
and the crew were made slaves. There was a 
brave young man in one of our ships, who made a 
plan to get back the lost boat, which had the same 
name as the town of " Phil-a-del-phia." He thought 
if we could not get her from the foe it would be best 
to burn her, so that they could not use her for their 
own ends. So he took a small boat which had 



ii;iw[iiiwipi!iii; i '' jiMipiir 



«' 






m 




'J4 



miiniii»»m^iiii:iH:!!'Ji:mi:i:ni!i:miii;;\,iii,:''i::siW'«!m'k'''''~'. .i';,u,;i.*lL:'...'".'HI'' "Wl'"'"""''' 



lOO Histojy of the United States. 

been won from the foe in a fight, and put some of 
our own men in her, and stole up to the side of the 
*' Phil-a-del-phia" by night. If he was seen — it was 
thought to be a boat load of friends — but they soon 
went to work, and when they got on board, the fight 
was short and fierce. The "Phil-a-del-phia" was 
theirs in no time ; but they found they could not 
move her, so they set her on fire, and set sail once 
more, and did not lose a man. All this won a 
name and fame for the young man, whose name 
was De-ca-tur, and in time there grew up such a 
fear of him in those wild States that they were glad 
to make peace and take no more slaves. 

Jef-fer-son's mode of life was not like Wash-ing- 
ton's had been. He did not care for fine things or 
a state-coach, but was plain in all his ways. He 
did not go to the House in a coach and six, but 
rode on a horse which he would tie to a post while 
he went in to read his speech. In time he did not 
go at all, but sent the speech to be read by some 
one, and so it is done in our day. He had no state 
times for the folk to come and see him ; but on 
New Year's day and the Fourth of July his doors 
were flung wide, and all might call who had the 
wish to do so. He did not let men know when 
his birth day came, so that no feasts should be kept, 
and odes made on it. He made the debt of the 



Nezv Men and Neiu Lazvs. 



lOI 



land less in his time. He thought that all men had 
a right to vote, and at that time there were those 
who did not hold such views. 

There was one law that came to pass in Jef-fer- 
son's time. This was to keep out the slave trade. 

At the South the rich men did not like to live 
in towns. A man of wealth bought land and was 
fond of life on his 
place as our friends 
the Eno^-lish are. 
He would have a 
large house and 
lawn and fine old 
trees, and he was 
glad to give good 
cheer to his friends 
when they came to 
see him. The man 
of the South was 
free with his good 
things. He rode round his place once a day, to see 
that all was kept well. His slaves were for the 
most part well fed. They were as a class light of 
heart and fond of dance and song. When work was 
done they would meet at night and sing their wild 
songs, for which they made up their own words. 
They took small thought for the past or for what 




SLAVES IN FIELD OF SUGAR CANE. 



I02 Histo7'y of the United States. 

was to come. If they had their hoe cake and 
their bit of fat pork to eat with it, they were all 
right. But there were those who took thought for 
them. 

In the States there was no law to say that slaves 
should not be bought and sold, and so this went on 
till the last war. 

One grand thing that came to be made in the 
time of Jef-fer-son was the steam boat. There were 
ships with sails, and boats that went by oars, but 
none that went by steam. The first one that was 
made would go four miles an hour; but it was not 
on the same plan as those we have now. The first 
made like those now in use, was built by Rob-ert 
Ful-ton, in 1807. Men then had not much faith 
in It, and would laugh at it as they do at most new 
things. Ful-ton said no one spoke a kind word of 
it ; but when they came to see the launch, and took 
note of its speed, those who came to mock were 
glad to cheer. 

The first steam boat made on his plan was the 
'' Cler-mont," and went at the rate of five miles an 
hour, spite of wind and tide. As it went on its 
way, it sent such a great mass of sparks up in the 
air, and the noise of its wheels was so loud that 
when the crews of the ships that came in its way 
saw it, they would drop on their knees in fright. 



Nezv Men and Nezu Laws. 



103 



and pray to be kept safe from this strange thing. 
But, in time, more were made, and men saw that 
there was naught to fear in these great steam boats, 




FUL-TON's " CLER-MONT " STEAM-ER. 



though they did seem to breathe out fire and smoke. 
Still, at first, they did not dare to cross the sea in 
them. 

There was a great tract of land in the west, 
which Jef-fer-son bought for the U-nit-ed States 
from the French. Part of it is now known as the 
State of Lou-i-si-ana, and took its name from the 
French King. One of the great streams of the 
world runs through it. Do you know its name ? 

Jef-fer-son sent men to find out all they could of 



I04. History of the United States. 

this land he had bought ; what kind of tribes of red 
men were in it, what wild beasts were in the wood, 
and what sort of plants grew there. These men 
took with them food, fire arms, and gifts for the 
chiefs of the red men. They were gone two or three 
years ; and made their camps in the woods, when 
the cold and storm were so great they could not go 
on. They went up the great stream to the falls 
where no w^hite man had been, and then they went 
on and found the source of the stream. They wrote 
of all they saw, and men read it in their homes. 
They read of new tribes of red men ; of herds of 
wild beasts, so large that one herd would take up a 
stream a mile wide. They said some of tribes were 
poor, but some had good homes and fine steeds, 
which they would sell for a few beads. They 
found, too, they could make a great trade for furs 
with these tribes. There was one man who made 
a post for this trade. It is said he bought furs by 
the weight, and would put his hand or foot in the 
scale, and call it a pound. You may think how 
much fur it would take to w^eigh them down. 

The next chief of our land was James Mad-i- 
son. When he came in, he found that men were 
once more in a state of wrath with Eng-land. You 
see they felt it hard that our ships should have to 
let Eng-land stop them and search them as she 



New Men and New Laws, 105 

chose. So at last it came to war, and at first we 
did not win at all. The red men took part with 
our foe ; and one chief, by nam^e of Te-cum-seh, 
made a plan to join all the tribes of In-di-ans in 
war on the whites. He took part in all the fights, 
and made a brave stand, but he fell at last. 

Though we did not win much on land, we had 
good luck on the sea. We took one of Eng-land's 
ships ; but then they in turn took one of ours, and a 
brave man, who fought with his crew at the head of 
it, fell, shot with his death wound. '' Don't give up 
the ship ! " was his cry with his last breath. 

These words, " Don't give up the ship," were 
put on a flag, which was held in a great fight that 
took place at that time. There were nine ships on 
our side, and six on the side of the foe. 

This flag was put on our flag ship, and a brave 
man fought for it. His name was Per-ry. The 
flag ship was lost ; but Per-ry flew to a small boat 
with his flag, and got to the next ship. He fought 
so well that he won the day, and the Brit-ish lost 
all their six ships. Such a thing had not been 
known till that time. When the Brit-ish gave up, 
Per-ry wrote, '* We have met the foe, and they are 
ours ! 

There was war for three years ; and in the last 
year the Brit-ish took some of our towns on the 



io6 



History of the United States. 



\ Cavalry" ' 

JileJcsoTi^B. 2. rs. 



JJ?**" JACKSorfS Line — ^""^ 




! D BeilBATTEniES 



Br.Gattciiie 






PLAN OF BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, 



coast south, and set fire to the State Hall and Pres- 
i-dent's house at Wash-ing-ton. They made a raid 
on New Or-leans, but we had a man there who 
built up miles of bales for a sort of breast works, 

and fought back of them 
with our troops, so they 
did not get that town ; and 
this was the last fight of 
the war. 

Peace was made, and 
both sides were glad to 
sign it. From this time 
the Eng-lish laid claim to no right of search in our 
ships. This was known for a time as the '' Late 
War," but since then we have had more wars, so it 
would not do to call it by that name now. But 
from that day we have had peace with Eng-land, 
and may it long last. 

Now came a time of peace when the land grew, 
and men went west and made homes, and built 
flour mills, and cut down trees, so that in a short 
time a wild place would change in to a town ; and 
you would see a church spire point up to the sky, 
and a school with its crowd of young ones at their 
tasks. 



CHAPTER X. 



SOME GREAT MEN. 



Mad-i-son had two terms of rule, and then 
Mon-roe was the next choice of the land. He 
had fought in the great war, and had a high place 
in the States. He had shown that he was a brave 
man, and was the one sent to France when our land 
bought Lou-i-si-ana. 

When he was made Pres-i-dent, he made a tour 
of all the posts north and east, to see what strength 
they would have in case of war. He wore a blue 
coat that was home-spun, and was plain in all his 
dress. He won the hearts of all by his frank ways. 
He met all men as friends, and had no pride and 
pomp to keep them far off; he was as one of them. 
He thought more of the good of his land than his 
own. One said of him, '' If we could turn his soul 
in side out, not a spot could be found on it." When 
he came to die, he was poor in purse but rich in a 
good name. 

The red men were not at peace in his time, and 
there was one more cause of strife, and that was the 
slaves. Since the first ship load of slaves had been 



ro8 History of the United States. 

brought in, the trade had grown more and more at 
the South. The men at the North had grown to 
hke this trade less and less. It had been thought 
at first it would soon die out, but they saw this 
would not be the case. At last there was a strife 
each time that a State, that held slaves, would want 
to come in. The free States would cry out that it 
was wrong to have more slave States. 

Those at the South said that when a free State 
was brought in, there ought to be a slave State too, 
or else the North would grow too strong, and have 
things all their own way. And so there was a fight 
when the time came for the State of Mis-sou-ri to 
come in. I do not mean that they went to war with 
shot and shell. This was a war of words. The 
North said that it was wrong to buy and sell men, 
and to break up homes ; that it was bad for the men 
who held slaves, and for those in bonds, and that 
the first men of the land had the wish to get rid of 
it. The South said that if the great men of the 
land had the wish to get rid of it, they still kept 
their own slaves ; that it was the best state for the 
black men ; that they could learn more than in their 
own wild land ; that white men could not work out 
of doors in the hot time, and so the crops could 
not be grown if the black man was made free. 

At last Con-gress let Mis-sou-ri come in as a 



Some Great Men. log 

slave State, but made a law that a line should be 
drawn in the land. North of this line there could 
be no slaves. South of it men could keep slaves or 
not, just as they chose ; men look on this now as a 
weak move. At that time the slaves were few, and 
the trade not great, so it might have been put down 
with more ease. But with time it grew so strong 
that it took long years and a great war to crush it 
out. Five new States came in while Mon-roe was 
at the head of the land. 

John Quin-cy Ad-ams came next. He was the 
son of the Pres-i-dent of the same name, and had 
been nine years old when he heard the Dec-la-ra- 
tion read from the State House in Bos-ton. Since 
then the land had grown to a vast size, and was at 
peace. Much was done in his time to make our 
land thrive and grow. The red men were made to 
move west, and their lands were bought. 

In his time, the first rail road was built. It was 
but three miles long, and it was a horse that drew the 
car and not steam. The first use of steam came in 
more late from Eng-land. The first steam car did not 
make much speed ; but it was thought to be a great 
thing. Still there were those who said it would not 
be worth much ; that it could not draw its own 
weight, but that its wheels would spin round and 
round on the rail. Some thought that if it were 



no 



History of the United States. 



made to go, it would be bad for the farms ; would 
scare off the cows and sheep, and the smoke would 
make the sheep's wool black. But their fears were 

laid at rest in 
time by the 
sight of these 
cars as they 
ran on in peace, 
and brought 
"^ none of these 

ills to pass. 
:^ In the same 
year the land 
had to mourn 
the death of 
two great men. 




FIRST STEAM EN-GINE. 



Strange to say, 
they went on the same day, and that was the Fourth 
of July. Both these men had put their names on 
the great Dec-la-ra-tion, and they had grown to be 
strong friends. Jef-fer-son heard the fire of a gun, 
just as he went. His last words were, ''Is this 
the Fourth?" 

Ad-ams, who lay near to death, saw the sun set 
and heard the shouts from those who kept the day 
in his town. He sent them word to hold fast the 
rights that day had brought them ; and the old 



Some Great Men. 1 1 1 

man could hear the cheer that they gave at his 
words. 

At this time there was a great talk of a sort of 
tax to be put on all goods brought here from far 
lands. This we call a tar-iff, and we hear a great 
deal of it in this day. There are those who think a 
high tax should be put on all goods made out of 
our own land, so as to keep them out and give those 
made here a chance. There are some who think 
that all trade should be free ; and that ships should 
sail here with what they choose and land it, with 
no one to see what it is, and put a tax on it. 

Ad-ams, in his time, was for a high tax, and 
for this cause he did not have but one term as our 
chief. Those who did not want the tax had the 
most votes, and they chose An-drew Jack-son for 
the next man. He had been v/ell known in the 
war, and had built up those breast works in New 
Or-leans of which we have told you, from which 
our men beat the Brit-ish. 

While he was chief, there were some in the 
South who felt that the North had more than its 
share of the wealth of the land. You see there 
were more great mills and more goods made in the 
North, and the tax on strange goods was too much 
help to those at home. At least this was so thought 
by the South, and they had a plan to cut loose and 



J 1 2 History of the United States. 

set up a new band of States. They had drills of 
their young men, and got arms, and had made 
choice of a man to lead them. His name was John 
C. Cal-houn, and he was to be their first chief. 
But Jack-son said that " if a State could go out of 
the band of States when it chose, we would come 
to naught ; " and he sent troops and ships of war to 
the South, and put a stop to all the stir in a short 
time. 

Tribes of the red men had gone out to the far 
West, but there were those who would not move. 
There was a tribe in Flor-i-da who fought for a 
long time in the swamps of that land. Some slaves 
who had run away from their homes were with 
them. One of the chiefs of the red men had a 
slave for a wife, and when she went with him to 
one of our forts, she was held and kept as a slave, 
and the chief was put in chains. When he got 
free, he made a vow to pay up the white man for 
all he had borne, and for the loss of his wife. So 
he led the red men in this war. His name was 
Os-ce-o-la. He was caught at last, and kept in one 
of our forts till he died. But the war went on for 
years, at a great cost of life, till few of that tribe 
were left in the land. And this war cost three times 
as much as had been paid for the whole of the State 
of Flor-i-da. 



So77ie Great Men. 1 1 3 

In 1827 a new sect rose in the west part of New 
York state. They took the name of Mor-mons and 
grew fast. A man by the name of Jo-seph Smith 
took the lead of them. He said he had found a 
book which was the word of God. He took those 
who held the same faith out West with him. The 
folks where they went did not like them, and they 
had to move from place to place, till at last they 
made a stop at Nau-voo, in the State of Ill-i-nois. 
There they built a grand house, where Smith and 
those of the same faith were wont to preach their 
creed. They thought it well for a man to have 
more wives than one — in fact the more he had the 
more help he would have to walk in the right path. 
The folks near Nau-voo made up their minds to 
drive this strange tribe out. They made a charge 
that some crimes had been done by them. Smith 
led a mob to break up a press with which the 
charge had been put in print, so he was thrown in 
jail. At last he lost his life at the hands of a mob. 
The sect went West to a plain by Salt Lake, where 
they live to this day. They built a town there 
and gave it the name of Des-er-et, which means 
the '' Land of the Bee." It is now Salt Lake 
City. 

Jack-son was a great man. He had come from 
poor folks, and as a boy he was more fond of sport 



114 Histoiy of the United States. 

than of books. His life had its ups and downs. 
Once he was in the hands of the foe, and told he 
must clean some boots for them. It was too much 
for a free born A-mer-i-can to clean Brit-ish boots. 
It made his blood boil, and he said with scorn that 
he would not do such work. He was not mild or 
meek, you know, but had a strong will of his own. 
And he kept his word spite of blows, and was sent 
to jail. There the poor boy had small-pox. He 
knew not where to turn when he got out of jail, for 
he was poor and had no one left to help him. He 
had more than one fight in his time, and scars that 
he did not gain in war. He was brave through 
and through, and won fame where he went. He 
was in his old home when he drew his last breath 
in peace. 

Mar-tin Van Bur-en was made pres-i-dent 
at a time when all things were at a low ebb. 
In two months from the day he took the 
oath all the banks of New York gave up pay 
in coin, and the banks in all the States soon 
did the same. Crowds of men were thrown out 
of work, and stood in the streets with naught 
to do. There was, too, a great crash in trade, 
and hard times in the whole land. Van Bur-en 
did not make the hard times. He did but reap 
what those had sown ere he came. Still he 



Some Great Men. 1 1 5 

had but one term for that cause. He said that 
the cause of these hard times was that the folk had 
lost the plain tastes of the old times and spent too 
much. In New York there had been a great 
change in all things since the days when the Dutch 
had bought the isle of Man-hat-tan from the In- 
di-ans and cut down the strong oaks and all kinds 
of trees that were on it. The log house was gone 
and the stone one stood in its place. A great town 
had gone up where of old the wheat and corn were 
grown and the fruit trees made the spring full of 
bloom. The old feast days were no more kept with 
such state, though the young ones still sought to 
dye their eggs with bright hues for Eas-ter day, 
and New Years calls were still in vogue. But 
with the growth of the town new wants sprang up. 
Rich clothes, a fine house, and good things to eat 
and drink were the mode. In the old times one 
who came to man Fort James said of the troops 
there: ''Not one man hath to this day since I 
brought them out of Eng-land slept in a pair of 
sheets, or on a bed save one made with sail cloth 
and straw." So hard and plain and scant were all 
things with those who came first. But as with 
New York, so with all the rest of the land, new 
wants had crept in and gold was spent with too free 
a hand. 



1 1 6 History of the United States. 

Men felt a hope that a new man might bring in 
a new state of things. They chose Har-ri-son, 
who had fought in a brave way in the wars with the 
red men. 

He came from the far West, where his home had 
once been in a log house. So he had the name of 
the Log Cabin man, and the poor men in the land 
all felt proud that one of their own kind was their 
chief; one who had made his way out of the ranks. 
There was a print of that log cabin on all sorts of 
things, and toys were made in that form, and songs 
were made on it, and sung when men met. 

The new Pres-i-dent did not live but one month, 
and so for the rest of the four years, John Ty-ler 
took the rule ; but he did not please those who had 
cast their votes for him. He would not let their 
bills pass : one of which was to form a States Bank, 
on which the Whigs had all set their hearts. The 
State of Tex-as was brought in at this time. 

You have all seen the wires which stretch from 
pole to pole in the streets of our great towns, and 
in lone roads by field and wood. You know what 
they are for, and how by means of them you can 
send word to a friend in time of need, or hear from 
those you love in a flash. It may be a death that 
is told, or some news of joy that they can not wait 
to send by the slow way of the post. 



Some Great Men. 



117 




Well, when James K. Polk was thought of as a 
good man to make chief of the land, the news was 
the first that had been sent on these wires. The 
first lines built were made here, 
and went from Bal-ti-more to 
Wash-ing-ton. Morse was the 
name of the man who found out 
how to send news on wires in 
this way. 

At this time there were two 
great men of whom you should 
hear, for their names are on the 
list of fame, which has stood the 
test of time. One was Hen-ry 
Clay. He was born in the West, and was poor, but 
he made his way from the small log school house, 
where he went to learn his first task, to rank with 
the great men of our land. He could win men to 
be his friends, when they had made up their minds 
to hate him. He had a strong will, and kept true 
to his own aims. He spoke with such grace and 
force that he could sway men's minds and thrill 
their hearts. He has said, " I owe all I have won in 
life to one fact, that when I was a boy, and for some 
years, as I grew up, I would learn and speak what 
I read in books. More than one off hand speech 
did I make in a corn field or in the woods, or in a 



SAM-UEL F. B. MORSE. 



1 1 8 History of the United States. 

barn, with but an ox or horse to hear me. It is to 
this I owe much that has gone to shape and mould 
my course in hfe." 

One man, who was not his friend, said at his 
death, '' If I were to write on the stone that marks 
his place of rest, I would place there these words : 
* Here lies one who led men by his own force for 
long years ; but did not swerve from the truth, or 
call in lies to help him.'" 

One more great man died on the same day as 
Clay. His name was Web-ster. He was a great 
states man. He went to school but a few weeks in 
all his life. He was then so shy that he could not 
pluck up heart to speak a piece in the school. He 
did not think that in time to come his words would 
stir the land. He says, '' I was brave in my own 
room, and would learn the piece and speak it there ; 
but when the day came, and I would see all eyes 
turn to me, and they would call out my name, I 
could not rise from my seat." 

In all things but this he stood well at school, 
and he had a great wish to learn. But he knew 
they were all poor at home, and he felt that he 
must go to work and help them, fond as he was of 
his books. When he heard that he was to go on ; 
that he should have a chance to make his dream 
true, he was full of joy. ** I see yet," he said, ''the 



Some Great Men. 1 1 9 

great hill up which we went that day in the snow. 
When I heard the news, I could not speak for 
joy. There were such a crowd of young ones in 
our home, I did not see how they could spare 
the funds. A warm glow ran through me ; I had 
to weep." 

When he was through school, he at once rose to 
a high place. He was at the head of all who spoke 
in the House. He was grand and great, but he 
had a sense of fun in him. Once some one came 
to him with one of those books where the names of 
friends or great men are kept, with the wish that he 
would write his name by the side of John Ad-ams. 
He wrote : 

'' If by his name I write my own, 
'Twill take me where I am not known ; 
And the cold words will meet my ear. 
Why, friend, and how did you come here?" 

When his death was known, there was grief in 
the length and breadth of the land. No death 
since that of Wash-ing-ton was made such a theme 
for speech. 



CHAPTER XL 



A NEW WAR. 



In the time of James K. Polk, a war rose in 
which our States were not of one mind. Our folk 
in Tex-as laid claim to a large tract of land which 
those in Mex-i-co said was theirs. The States at 
the North did not wdsh to go in to this war; but 
those at the South did. This was in 1846. Gen- 
er-al Tay-lor went with his troops at once in to the 
land of the foe, and built a fort on a stream there. 
He gave it the name of Fort Brown. On his w^ay 
he met the troops of the foe drawn up in the road. 
They had three to one of his small band ; but he 
had the good luck to rout them, with loss of but 
nine men on our side. 

Then he took up his march on their great town, 
which had the name of Mon-te-rey. This town had 
high hills and deep gulfs round it, and strong forts. 
Its streets were full of men with arms. Gen-er-al 
Tay-lor made a grand move on the town. To get 
out of the fire that would seem to pour on them 
from the roofs, the troops went in and dug their 
way through stone walls from house to house, or 




CAP-TURE OF MON-TE-REY. 



122 History of the United States. 

they would pass from roof to roof. Ere they came 
to the grand place of the town, it was in their hands, 
the foe gave up the fight. 

At this time San-ta An-na, who was chief of the 
Mex-i-can troops, heard that most of our men had 
been drawn off to help Gen-er-al Scott ; so he thought 
it would be a good time to crush us. They laid 
in wait with all their best troops, and the fight went 
on from the rise of the sun till dark. It grew hard 
to hold our ground, and the day would have been 
lost but for the guns of Cap-tain Bragg, who came 
to our help. He made a dash up to a few yards 
from the foe, and let fire. Their ranks were seen 
to shake. " Some more grape. Cap-tain Bragg," said 
Gen-er-al Tay-lor. One more round, and then a 
third came, and the Mex-i-cans broke and fled. In 
the night San-ta An-na drew all his troops off. 

Gen-er-al Scott, at the head of our troops, made 
a march through the land of Mex-i-co, and took all 
that came in his way. He drew siege lines round 
the town of Ve-ra Cruz, and sent bombs in to it, and 
in four days the town, with its strong hold, gave up 
the fight. A week from that time our troops took 
up their march for the chief town. At one pass in 
the hills, the foe had a strong hold. Gen-er-al Scott 
had a road cut round the base of those hills and 
through the woods ; and then he was in a place to 



A New War. 123 

pour out fire on the rear of the foe, while more 
troops took him in front. The foe fled in such 
haste that San-ta An-na, who was lame, left his leg 
of wood on the ground, and got off on his wheel 
mule. 

The town of Mex-i-co is in the midst of a grand 
plain, with green fields and cloud capt mounts round 
it. The foe had made a strong stand here, with 
forts and men. Our men made a move in the 
night. It was so dark they had to feel their way; 
but they took their stand on a height from which 
they could storm the strong points of the foe. At 
last they took some of the guns, and the roads were 
laid bare to the gates of the town. 

There was some talk of a peace then, but Gen- 
er-al Scott found that it was not in good faith. The 
foe did it to gain time, to make things strong once 
more. So the next day, he took up his march on 
the great town of Mex-i-co. A strong fort, on a 
high rock by the town, was made ours ; each out 
work fell one by one, and at last our troops took the 
great Ci-ty of Mex-i-co, and the next morn our flag 
with its stripes and stars was seen to float in the 
light from those grand old piles, which had been 
the home of more than one prince of Mex-i-co. So 
the war came to an end in just two years. 

Till this time, Cal-i-for-nia had been known as a 



124 



History of the United States. 



far off land, to which men went by sea, round Cape 
Horn, to buy hides and fur. But in 1848, came 
news to the East-ern States that there were gold 
mines in that place. It was said that a Swiss had 
found, as he dug in the sand, a bright sort of dust, 
and it was thought to be gold. All at once, on this 
news, there was a great rush from all parts of the 
land to the gold mines of Cal-i-for-nia, and there 
was a great sum won the first year. In two years 




SAN FRAN-CIS-CO IN 1 849. 



the town of San Fran-cis-co had grown to quite a 
large place. The name of Cal-i-for-nia is said to 
have been found in an old book in Spain, and 
means an isle full of gold. 

Three more States were brought in while Polk 



A New Wa7'. 125 

was our chief, and two of them were free States. 
It was shown that those who came to us from the 
old world chose the free States for their homes, and 
those at the South felt sure that the North would 
grow too fast if they did not gain more ground. 
There was a great piece of land which both North 
and South laid claim to, and there were high words 
on both sides. At last a band of men by the name 
of Free Soil men, took a stand that slaves should 
be kept out of all new land which the U-nit-ed 
States might gain in all time to come. 

The next man who was the choice of the land 
was Tay-lor, the one who led part of our troops in 
the war with Mex-i-co. He had shown he was a 
brave man when he held one of our forts from a great 
In-dian chief and his men. He fought in the Black 
Hawk war, and he was put at the head of our troops 
there. He won great fights in the war with Mex- 
i-co, and gained the praise of all. They gave him 
the name of old ''Rough and Read-y." When he 
came home from the war he was met by cheers, and 
the streets were lit with fires, and flags were flung 
out for him in each town thr^ ^h which he went. 
He was put in by the Whigs. The Free Soil men 
did not vote for him. He did not live but four 
months, and then Fill-more took his place. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE WAR OF NORTH AND SOUTH. 

Once more the talk on free States and slave 
States was heard on all sides, and Hen-ry Clay had 
made more than one great speech to try and keep 
the peace. Cal-i-for-nia came in as a free State ; 
but a bill went in force which made it a crime to 
help or keep a slave who had run off from his home. 
A man could go in to a free State and take back 
his slave by force, and no court or Judge in the 
land could stop him. In fact, they were bound to 
help him. This was thought harsh and wrong by 
most of the men at the North ; but it was made a 
law. This law made more stir than aught else had 
done till this time. Men would help the slaves, 
spite of the law; and in some States they made 
laws of their own, that no one could claim a slave 
if he did not bring the case in to court, that they 
might see if he had a just claim. 

When Pierce was made Pres-i-dent, the strife 
still went on ; and this was made worse by a wish 
on the part of those who held slaves to bring them 
North of the line, in to a great tract of land — so 



The War of North and South. ■ 127 

large that two States could be made out of it — Kan- 
sas and Ne-bras-ka. 

The South said all they would ask, would be 
that those who had their homes on the soil should 
say how they would like things to be, and put it to 
vote. Con-gress did at last pass a bill to give them 
their own choice, to be free or slave States. But 
this did not bring peace ; for they had fights when 
they went to vote. At last they were all at war, 
and would burn a town or sack a house, or steal the 
cows and goods of those they thought foes. The 
whole land was a scene of blood, but in the end 
Kan-sas was brought in as a free State. 

In the time of Pierce a great tract of land was 
bought from Mexico. It is now known as New 
Mex-i-co. In his time, too, trade with Japan was 
first made free to our ships. 

When Bu-chan-an came to take the place of 
chief in our land, the talk on the slaves was by no 
means at rest. In the great Court of our land, the 
" Dred Scott" case was brought up in the first year 
of his rule, and it was said that those who held 
slaves had the right to take them with them where 
they chose, through all the free States. Then came 
John Brown's raid, which was like a fire brand in 
all the slave States. 

John Brown was a man who had fought on the 



128 History of the United States. 

side of the Free Soil men in Kan-sas, and now all 
was at peace there. He had a plan to go in to the 
slave States and free the slaves. He had been in 
Vir-gin-ia when he was a boy, and knew there were 
strong holds in the hills, where he thought the 
slaves could make a stand and fight till they were 
free. He got a small band of men and went to a 
place by the name of Har-per's Fer-ry, and took 
the town. Those who had their homes there fled 
in fright ; so he took the great place where arms 
were made for our troops. He thought he would 
give these arms to the black men, whom he had 
no doubt would flock to his side. He had a small 
force, but fear made all think it was a great one. The 
news of the raid went like a flash on the wires to all 
parts of the States, and men were sent to fight him 
and take him. His small force were brave, and did 
not give up till death or wounds made them do so. 

It is said by those who held him as their foe, 
that John Brown was cool and firm in the face of 
death. With one son dead by his side, and one 
shot through, he felt the pulse of the son so near to 
death with one hand, but held fast to his gun, and 
spoke words of cheer to his men. He fell at last 
with six wounds, but did not die of them. He was 
brought in to Court, and they set to work to try 
him. The head man of Vir-gin-ia, by the name of 



The War of North and Sotith. 



129 



Wise, said, ''Those who think John Brown is a 
mad man, do not know^ him. He is a man of clear 
head and a brave heart. I would trust him to be a 
man of truth." 

But he was led out to be hung. On his way 
there, his last act was to kiss a slave child. Six of 
his friends were hung 
on the same spot. 
Some few of the band 
got off to the free 
States. All this made 
the talk of North and 
South on the slave 
trade more and more 
fierce; and when a 
new man was to be 
made Pres-i-dent, 
those who went for 
free soil, that is, no 
slaves, chose their 
own man, and he got 
the most votes. These 




A-BRA-HAM LIN-COLN. 



Free Soil men had grown to be a large throng, and 
they had a new name. The man they chose was 
A-bra-ham Lin-coln. He was a man who would 
have been glad to have kept the peace ; but the 
South would not have it so. They were in a rage. 



I30 



History of the United States. 




BAN-NER OF SOUTH 
CAR-O-LI-NA. 



and said they would go out of the band of States. 

They thought a State had the right to go out if it 
chose to do so. This was '' States 
Rights" to their mind. 

"States Rights" had long been 
held as the creed of the South ; so 
there were six States that put it to 
" vote, and said they would go out of 

the U-nion. South Car-o-li-na was 
the one to lead the way. They said 
they would make a new band of 

States, where it would be right to hold slaves ; and 

they took one of 

our forts. 

Troops were 

sent in a boat, by 

name, "The Star 

of the West," but 

they were met by 

a fire from the 

fort. Then they 

took their stand 

on the shore by 

Fort Sum-ter, 

which was held 

by a few men. For two days the fire went on, and 

at last the brave man who held the fort had to give 




FORT SUM-TER. 



The War of North and South. 131 

it up. His men were worn out, the place was on 
fire, and they had no more food for their guns. So 
they went out with the beat of drums and their flags 
flung out on the air. 

The sound of the first gun at Fort Sum-ter was 
a shock to all the land. Most of those at the 
North, who had not felt the slave trade to be 
wrong, now took sides with those who had been its 
foes from the first. All the States at the South 
took one side, but the slaves were for those who 
had the wish to make them free. 

In the first of this storm the end came of Bu- 
chan-an's term. Three States came in at this time. 
Or-e-gon, Min-ne-so-ta, and Kan-sas. The last two 
bear the name the red men gave two streams that 
flow through them. The name Or-e-gon is said to 
mean ''wild rice." 

Up to the time of the first gun fired at Fort Sum- 
ter, men had felt that the South could be brought 
back. Few at the North thought there would be 
war ; but at the South it had been thought of for 
a long time. The young men had met for drill, 
and arms had been hid where they could be found. 
Lin-coln found but a small band of troops, but he 
sent out a call for more. As these men were on 
their march through the streets of Bal-ti-more, the 
mob threw stones at them, and three of them fell 



132 Histoi'y of the Uitited States. 

dead. Then the troops let fire on the mob, and 
nine men fell. This made a great stir at the North, 
for they thought it went to show the hate in the 
hearts of the men at the South. 

The next time the troops were sent, they did 
not march through Bal-ti-more. They found the 
rails torn up by the way, and had to mend them as 
they went on. Once when they saw a car that was 
a wreck by the way side, some one was heard to 
ask if one could be found in the ranks who could 
mend it. '' I can," said a man who stood by it, 
"for I built it." 

So you see the troops were made up of men 
from all trades, who had left their work to fight for 
their land. In the course of time, troops went in 
peace through the streets of Bal-ti-more. 

Men came in to the ranks on all sides when 
they heard the call ; but they found that arms were 
scarce, most had been sent South. So the North 
had to buy or make these in as short a time as they 
could. There had to be clothes made, too, for the 
troops, and food found for stores, and carts to draw it, 
and drugs for the sick. All must be done at once, 
and all in such a way that there must be no waste or 
want. Lin-coln at this time made a law that no 
ships should go in or out of the ports of the South. 

The war soon made a stand in both East and 



The War of North and SotUh. i xx 

West Vir-gin-ia. In the west of this State there 
were men who did not wish to fight on the side of 




OFF TO THE WAR. 



the South ; but they had to do so or leave the State. 
There was a move made to march on Rich-mond ; 



134 



History of the United States. 



but the troops had to go back, and lost the day at 
the fight of Bull Run. It was a sad rout for the 
troops of the North, as they made haste back to 
Wash-ing-ton, with a fear that the foe might come 
and take that place. 

At the end of this year Gen-er-al Scott gave up 
his place at the head of all the troops to Gen-er-al 
Mc-Clel-lan. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LOSS AND GAIN. 



One morn in Ju-ly all the camp was up in the 

gray dawn, for they had made 
up their minds to meet the 
foe on that day. Soon you 
might have seen four long, 
dark lines all on the move 
on their way to the South. 
They all made for one point, 
but did not go by the same 
roads. They were all full 
of hope, and felt sure they 
would win. A few of them had been in the war 




GEN-ER-AL KOB-ERT E. LEE. 



Loss and Gain. 



135 



for some time, but most were new and raw 
men. They took no trunks with them, you 
may be sure. Would you hke to know what a 
man takes when he goes to a fight ? I will tell you 
what Gen-er-al Mc-Dow-ell told his troops to take. 
They were to take their guns, ol course — all the 
arms — and food for three days, the clothes for their 
beds, and the things to drink out of They took 
their food in a bag. A man was sent on to spy 
out the land. They found the foe had a strong 
guard. They were in force on the west bank of the 
stream known as _ ^^_ 

Bull Run for near 
eight miles. , The 
stream was deep 



and 



ran so swiit i 



that it was hard 
to cross save in 
a few spots. At 
these the foe had a 

where 



strong guard. At 
one place 
they sought to 
cross there was a 




STONE BRIDGE. 



sharp fight. At 

last the troops from the North thought they would 

try and find a ford where they could ride or wade, 



136 



Histojy of the United States. 



while a few should act as if they meant to cross 
the stone bridge and thus take up the time of the 
foe. They made out to do this and they found the 
foe on the ground. At first the Southern troops 
fled up a hill. But when they came to a broad 
plain they made a stand once more. Their Gen-er-al 
Jack-son held this place with a calm strength. 
Some one who saw that his troops were worn out 

said to them to cheer them : 
" Here stands Jack-son like a 
stone wall." This name was 
heard with cheers on all sides, 
x^;^ And from that day he was known 
as Stone-w^all Jack-son. He was 
a man fit to lead, and one of the 
best of men. 

The troops from the North 
now sought to drive out the foe 
from this broad plain. But to do this they had 
to take the oruns that were set on the crown of 
the hill. This was no light task, for to do it 
men must ride in full fire right " in to the jaws of 
death." But the men rode on, and fell in hosts. 
Now and then they would take a gun, and pay for 
it in ranks of dead men. Both sides were so brave 
that it did seem as if the fight would go on while a 
man was left The ground was red with blood. 




STONE-WALL JACK-SON. 



Loss and Gain. 137 

Three times the troops from the North made that 
chmb of the hill in the face of the fire. With their 
flags in their hands they got to the top for the third 
time, when there came a fire so fierce they were 
mown down hke grain m front of a scythe. The 
foe came on with cheers. Fresh men came in their 
ranks and the fire went on. The troops of the 
North lost hope and broke and ran. The field of 
the fight was hke a race course. Mules and steeds 
with no one on their backs, men with arms flung 
from them ran in wild haste. Threats were in vain 
and more than one brave man was shot as he 
sought to stop the flight of his troops. By twelve 
at night they were all in full flight for Washington. 
Those who fell by the way side, and they were not 
a few, had to be left. If one could have seen them 
in their wild rush throu<^h that dark nieht, with 
blood stains and dust on them, it v/ould have been 
hard to think they were the same troops who had 
set out w^ith such brave hearts. None had seen the 
flag of the U-nion trail in dust so low be-fore. Yet 
our boys in blue w^ere not less brave than those in 
the gray. For long years men thought of that dark 
day, and it was known as " Black Mon-day." The 
fight of Bull Run is said to have been one of the 
best in its plan, but one of the worst fought of all 
the war. The troops were raw, and the roar of the 



138 



History of the United States. 



guns, the shrieks and noise, were too much for 
them. They did not know the rules of war, nor how 
to mind what was said to them. If the foe had 
known to the full how great the fright was, they 








CAP-I TOL AT WASH-INGTON. 



might hav^e gone on to Wash-ing-ton. The troops 
from the North made haste to that town with a 
fear that the men of the South were in full chase 
and might take that place. 

Pres-i-dent Lin-coln sent out a call for more men 
and more gold. In the South, too, more troops 
came at once, but they had no funds. They had 
notes, but they were of small worth. Still both 
North and South were full of brave men, and they 




SOUTHERN FLAG. 



Loss a?id Gain. 139 

each thought they were in the right, so they were 
o-lad to do all and bear all for the cause. At the 
North the red, white and blue w^as borne. At the 
South the stars and bars were flung on the breeze. 
Songs were sung of the war. 
''Dix-ie" was one well known song 
at that time in the South. All the 
thought was of the war. Those at 
home did not fold their hands. If 
they could not give their lives for 
their land they could work. The 
wives thought of their dear ones who were gone, and 
the}^ met in bands to sew on the blue shirts or to 
scrape lint. The young girls held in their hearts the 
last words of the brave youths who had not kept 
back from the fight. The young ones left their play 
to knit warm socks for the poor men to wear in the 
lone march. Good thinos to eat were sent to those 
who had such hard fare. Each train bore some thing 
to the troops, to show that they were kept in mind by 
those at home. Gen-er-al Ly-on, in the West, found 
the foe in force in the south-west part of Mis- 
sou-ri, and one morn he saw two lines on the march 
to him. He thought it would be more wise to go 
out and meet them than to wait for them, so he set 
forth. The land was so full of hills that he could 
not see the strength of the foe. All at once the 



140 History of the United States. 

Con-fed-e-rate horse men made a dash at them from 
the woods and broke their hne in two hke a pipe 
stem. But they had to fly in the end and leave the 
field to the troops of the North. In the next fight, 
near Spring-field, Gen-er-al Ly-on lost his life. 
Where the shot fell fast he rode all day up and down 
the lines to cheer his men. Twice he got wounds, 
and once his horse fell with a shot, but still the 
brave Gen-er-al did not flinch. Some of the troops 
who had lost their chief said: "Who will lead us?" 
Gen-er-al Ly-on sprang on a fresh horse and said, 
with a wave of his hat in the air: "I will lead you 
— come on, brave men!" He did not live but a 
short time, for he was soon struck in the breast with 
a ball, and he fell dead. The Con-fed-e-rates won 
this fight, but did not give chase to the troops of 
the North, though they were in full flight. 

In Sep-tem-ber the Con-fed-e-rates drew up in 
front of Lex-ing-ton, on the south bank of the Mis- 
sou-ri. The man who was at the head of the troops 
in this town had few guns and but small store of 
what was food for them. Day by day went and 
no help came to him and his men, so all they could 
do was to dig the trench or throw up the earth works 
to shield them. There were troops sent to the help 
of this brave Col-o-nel Mul-li-gan, but they did not 
reach him, for the foe was on the look out for them. 



\ Loss and Gain. 141 

At the break of day, Sep-tem-ber 12th, Gen-er- 
al Price sent out fire on the town from fours pots 
at once. Col-o-nel Mul-H-gan met it as best he 
could, and the fight was kept up till night. The 
poor men in Lex-ing-ton were in a sad plight. 
They had not much food, and all their stores were 
low. The foe cut off the stream from them, so they 
had naught to drink save what the men could catch 
in cloths when the rain came. These they would 
wring out and get a few drops in that way. Yet 
lor all this, when Gen-er-al Price sent word to them 
that they must give up, Col-o-nel Mul-li-gan said : 'Tf 
you want us, come and take us." But at last the 
brave men had to give in, and they put up the 
white flag, which is known as a flag of truce. When 
Col-o-nel Mul-li-gan gave up his sword Gen-er-al 
Price gave it back to him and said: 'T would grieve 
to take the sword of so brave a man from hmi." 

By this time the foe had heard of the path for 
the troops that had been cut, and ere they were 
half way to the fort they made up their minds to 
give up the works, for there was no hope and they 
did not want to lose their men for naught. And 
so the fort and all that was in it fell in the hands of 
the U-nion men. 

It may be you have heard of ''Old Abe," the 
bird who saw both these last fights. He was the 



142 



History of the United States. 



sort of bird that you see on our flag, one of the 
kind that knows no iear. He had been caught when 
young and sold for some corn, but at last he fell 
in the hands of the U-nion troops. The men who 
had charge of him were met with cheers at all 
times, and the bird got the name of "Old Abe" 
from the Pres-i-dent. He would sit on his perch 
and look at the fights with calm, cold eye. At 
times he would flap his wings. He went with his 
friends each time and saw most of the war. Once 
those who had him might have got a whole farm if 
they would have sold him, but gold could not buy 
him. He did not get a wound through all the war, 
and when at last 
death took him 
some one had to 
stuff him, and he 
was kept in a case, 
and may be seen yet 
in Wis-con-sin in a 
house where rare 
things are shown. 

The fio-ht at Shi- 
loh was a fierce one. 
At one time the 
South won, then 
the North. Both sides fought well, till at last the 




PICK-ET DU-TY. 



Brave Boys in Blue and Gray. 143 

Con-fed-e-rates fell back. The troops from the 
North were too worn out to chase them. It was a 
sad scene to see the loads of Con-fed-e-rates with 
wounds lie in ''piles like bags of grain" as they 
were borne back to Cor-inth. When death came 
from their sore wounds they had to be thrown out 
to make room for those who still had the breath of 
life in them. The loss was great on both sides, but 
the men of the South had no gold nor the right kind 
of clothes to keep them warm. Some who were 
sent to Chi-ca-go were in a sad state. They were 
in worn-out clothes, and some of them had girls' 
hats on their heads. One poor man had two old 
hats made fast to his feet for shoes. It made one's 
heart ache to see these worn-out men in their rags. 
Yet they bore all with brave hearts for the cause. 
Jef-fer-son Da-vis was Pres-i-dent of the States in the 
South which went to war to get their rights, as they 
said. He had fought in the war w^ith Mex-i-co and 
got a wound, but kept his seat on his horse like a 
brave man till the fight was done. He had great 
faith in the South and was sure they would win in 
the end, and that the war would not last long. 
When they could not pay their troops and the South 
came to erief there were some that blam-ed him, but 
the want and woe were not his fault. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BRAVE BOYS IN BLUE AND GRAY. 

By this time gold was scarce at the South, so 
when the clothes of the troops were worn out there 
was no means to buy mo e. Then the wives 

and maids came to 
i ^^g^ the front. They 
made cloth and gave 
it a dye from nuts — 
those w^ho wore it 
got the name of 
''But-ter-nuts." Some 
of the men in the 
AR-MY HUTS. rauks had no shoes, 

but all bore their woes in a brave way. The dames 
who had been born to wealth did not mind if they 
had to soil their soft fair hands with coarse work 
for the sake of the cause. They sold with joy their 
rich gems, their clothes or their books — all that 
would bring a price — to help the brave men who 
were in the ranks. But they kept up brave hearts. 
They thought their cause was just and right. 

Things were in a bad state at this time. Some 
one says it was like a sled run on bare ground down 




Brave Boys in Bltie and Gray. 145 

South. The three months' men were in haste to 
go home. The new troops were raw. The loss at 
Bull Run had made some lose heart. The South 
felt sure that they would win. Gen-er-al Mc-Clel- 
lan did what he could to raise their hopes. He 
would say to them: ''My men, we have met the 
last loss of the war; from th-is hour we will win. 
You must stand by me, and I will stand by you." 
He did not spare gold to get all in good trim. All 
that could be got for the needs ot the men was 
bought. It was said that in all the world there had 
been no troops so well off, and that a band of 
French men could live on the waste. Some fault 
w^as found that so much time and so much gold 
was spent, but it takes time to drill raw troops and 
to teach them the art of war. 

There was a ship fight, in which the South for 
a time did good work. She had a ship which she 
had made strong with iron plates and hard wood, 
and a bow of steel. This ship set sail in the bay 
to fight the whole Un-ion fleet. The ships of 
wood could make no stand. In vain did they 
pour out fire and balls. It was said the balls 
would strike and glance off, and did no more 
harm than peas from a pop gun. At nine that 
night two of our ships had gone down in fire and 
smoke, and one was run on the orround. 



146 



History of the United States. 



All at once a small queer thing came in sight. 
Some one said it was like a cheese box on a raft. 
This was the Mon-i-tor. When dawn came it bore 
down on the Mer-ri-mac and sent out a fire. The 
ram rave the fire back. For two hours the fire 
was kept up ; till at last the Mon-i-tor sent a shell 
through the port hole of the foe. This fell right in 
the midst of her crew. So those in the Mer-ri-mac 
thought it would be wise to get out of the way of 




MER-RI-MACK AND MON-1-TOR. 



more such shells, and it left the coast clear. There 
was great joy felt at the North when the news 
came that they had won this fight ; for all had felt 
that if this ship, with its hard sides and bow of 
steel, had been left free to sail in to New York bay, 
all the ships of wood in our port would have gone 
down in her path. From the time of this fight, a 
great change has been made in the way they have 
built ships. 



Brave Boys in Blue and Gj^ay. 



147 



The Con-fed-e-rates had two forts which Gen- 
er-al Grant had long thought should not be left in 
their hands. These were Fort Hen-ry and Fort 
Don-el-son. As soon as Gen-er-al Grant had leave 
he set out with a large force on boats and sev-en 
o^un boats to take the lead. Thev had to move 
with great care, for they knew the stream was full 
of a sort of thing that was meant to blow them up. 




FORT HEN-RY. 



They made out to fish up some of these things. 
They were long tubes which would hold pounds of 
stuff to blow up the boats if they should knock on 
them. There was a match or a slow fuse on each 
that could be set off if the ship should knock a rod 
that went up from it. 

There were two kinds of boats in use for this 
fight. One was a ship cut down to the deck, with 
a roof of plate which shed shot and shell as the rain 
is shed from a duck's back. These orun-boats were 



148 History of the United States. 

in charge of Commodore Foote. One kind was 
known as a ''ram," for like a cross old sheep it 
would butt its strong prow in the side of a ship and 
stave a hole in it. 

The morn was bright, but there had been a 
storm in the night, so that the roads were bad. 
The gun boats made a fire ere the troops could 
march up in the rear. The brave man who held 
Fort Henry had sent most of his men to Fort Don- 
el-son. With the few he had he held out as long 
as he could. He did what he could — told his men 
where to send out the shots, and he took his share 
of the work at one of the guns. But there was no 
chance for the most brave to hold the fort, and they 
had to give up. 

Six days from that time Gen-er-al Grant with his 
troops set out for Fort Don-el-son. This fort was 
on high ground and' all had been done to make it 
strong. The stream was on one side, and the plan 
was to make the move both from the land and from 
boats. 

The first move on the works did not gain aught. 
Then came night with a storm of sleet and rain, and 
last there was a great fall of snow. All the food 
was gone, and none could reach them till Foote's 
fleet should come. Those who had wounds had to 
call in vain for drink. There was naugrht to o^ive 



Brave Boys in Blue and Gray. 



149 



them. There were deaths that night from cold in 
the troops both of North and South. At last, on 
the 14th of February the fleet came. Food was 
brought for the men, and Com-mo-dore Foote at 
once sent out a fire on the fort with no more loss of 
time. For one hour the fire from the fort came 
down on them till the gun boats had to draw back, 
for they could do no more. The fleet had to be 
sent back to Cai-ro to be put in good trim once more. 
Gen-er-al Grant kept his place 
and put the fort in a state of 
siege. Gen-er-al Floyd, who 
was chief of the Con-fed-e- 
rates, thought he would try 
and cut his way out. He 
found he could not do this, 
but he made out to slip off 
with Gen-er-al Pil-low in the 
dark of the night to Nash-ville. 




U-LYS-SES S. GRANT. 



The next dawn all the 
camp was up in time to storm the works of the foe, 
when the faint sound of a horn came to their ears. 
Next they saw in the dim light a white flag wave 
trom the fort, and soon a man came with the flag 
of truce in his hand. Buck-ner sent to ask Grant 
on what terms he would let him give up the fort. 
Grant said they must give up all. " I mean at once 



150 Histo7y of the United States. 

to move on your works." So it was soon done. 
The troops took up their march into the fort. It 
was a bright day, and the sun shone on the stripes 
and stars that were soon set to wave on the fort. 
The gun boats sent out shots to cheer them. The 
stream was full of boats and there were crowds of 
men on the banks who sent up shouts. 

The fall of this fort broke the line of the forts 
of the South. But the field of the fight was a scene 
of blood. Hosts of men from both sides lay there 
dead or in sad pain from their wounds. Help was 
sent from all sides. More than one good dame 
went to nurse the sick, and they found brave men 
there, who did not seem to mind their wounds, but 
felt glad they could fight for their land. The same 
brave hearts were shown by the boys, both in the 
blue and the gray. 

One poor youth lay in his bed, with wounds in 
both arms and both legs. His nurse said to him: 
''How long did you lie on the field?" ''Oh, for 
two days," he said, ''and then they had to chop me 
out, for I was froze fast." 

"Why were you left there so long?" 

"Oh, you see they could not stop to look out for 
me — they had to take the fort." 

" But it was hard for your friends to leave you in 
that wav ! " 



Brave Boys in Blue a?id Gray. 151 

"Oh, no. How could they help it? They had 
to take the fort ; and when they took it we thought 
no more of our wounds, and cheers went up from 
all parts of the field. Those who were near death 
sent up a faint cry of joy, and men who had but one 
arm left made out to raise that." 

Each church in Nash-ville was full on that Sun- 
day morn. Soon a man rode through the streets 
with a shout : " Don-el-son is in the hands of the foe. 
The Yan-kees will soon be here." In a flash all 
was fear and fright. Sad tales had been told of the 
Yan-kees. The young ones grew pale as they heard 
the news. They gave up all for lost. It was true 
that the troops of the North were on their way. 
The folks were in a sort of craze. They gave large 
sums for a horse or a cart, or aught that would take 
them from the town. They burnt the grand bridge 
that had been their pride, and all the stores that 
they could get at were borne off. In a few days the 
stripes and stars were seen to float from the top of 
the State House at Nash-ville. 

There was a small town at the curve of the 
Mis-sis-sip-pi by the name of New Mad-rid. Fort 
Thomp-son was there, and six gun boats to guard it. 
It had the name of the "key to the Mis-sis-sip-pi." 
This place, then, was thought to be the spot for the 
n(Lxt work of the troops from the North. They 



152 



History of the United States. 



went down the stream as far as they could, then they 

had to march for miles through marsh and mire. 

They had, it was said, to "march through mud, to 

eat it and to sleep in it." Gen-er-al Pope put his guns 

in place on the bank, and then he had to wait for 

help. For days the fire went on, and the shot and 

shell were sent into the fort. The shell they had 

in use was the size of a foot ball and of great weight, 

yet they did not 

seem to do much 

work. The fire 

was kept up for 

three weeks, yet 

but one man was \ 

lost to the foe. 

They could not 

reach the foe from 

the rear, for there 

was a marsh there 

through which the 

men could not 

march. Gen-er-al Hamilton found out a way. 

He cut a way for the stream to go through this 

marsh. It was no light work, for a host of 

great trees had to be cut down. When this 

path for the stream was made it ran in, and they 

could float boats on It. Five small boats made a 




BL'ILDING THE CANAL. 



Brave Boys in Blue and Gray, 



153 



start in the dark. It was a night of storm, and 
there was not a gleam in the sky. All was kept 
still, but as the first boat made a turn to the shore 
there was a swift flash which told them that they 
had been found out. It was quick work to take the 




GUN BOATS. 



guard, and then they went on to spike the guns as 
fast as they could. The rain fell fast, and the roar 



of the storm was great. 



In a short tmie six sfuns 



had their throats full of files, and the boys who did 
it got off safe to their camp once more. 




AR-MY PUN-ISH-MENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 



LINES DRAWN IN. 



Stone-wall Jack-son, one of the great men of the 
South, lost his hfe in a fight which took place in a 
spot known as Chan-cel-lors-ville. This place was 
not a town but a large house, and it took the name 
of the man who had built it. In this fight Jack-son 
got a wound in the arm. He was borne to the rear 
and the arm was cut off, but death came from the 
wound in a few days. In his last hours he thought 
he still had charge of the troops. He said : '' Tell 
Hill to get things right for the fight pass the men 
to the front — tell — " then it would seem that a scene 
of peace came to him, for he said in a soft voice: 
" Let us cross the stream and rest in the shade of 
the trees." So the last rest came to him that must 
have been sweet at the end of such toil. 

Gen-er-al Jack-son was at the same time brave 
in war and one who had the love of God in his 
heart. All who knew him told good things of him. 
*' None knew him but to love him," and if they 
spoke his name it was with praise. His black boy 
would say: '' Gwine to be a fight, sure, 'cause marse 



Lines Drawn In. 155 

done pray all night." It is said that each time he 
told his men to fire a charge he would say, "And 
may God take care of their souls." He would 
share all the hard lot of the men, and felt for all 
their woes. In his death the South lost their best 
man. 

The South took heart and came with their 
troops in to a free State ; and a great fight took 
place near a town by the name of Get-tys-burg. 
There was great loss on both sides. But Lee had 
to fly with his men, and this fight put an end to 
the hopes of the South. 

Grant had made a plan to take Vicks-burg, and 
he felt it could not fail. Gen-er-al Sher-man was to 
go down the stream to Mem-phis and wait for 
Grant there. But one of the chiefs of the South 
made a wild raid through the land and took Col- 
o-nel Mur-phy and part of the troops and all the 
stores. The men who led the raid burnt all — the 
food, the drugs and the stores of clothes. These 
were the stores which General Grant meant for 
the use of his troops, and they were all lost in one 
fell swoop. At the same time the horse-men of 
For-rest made a dash through that part of the State 
and cut all the lines of the rail road and the wires 
by which they could send news home in a flash. 
For two weeks Gen-er-al Grant had no food for his 



1^6 Histoiy of the United States. 

men but what he could pick up. This was a great 
check to him. 

Vicks-burg stands on a sharp turn of the Mis- 
sis-sip-pi. There is a hne of bkiffs on the east bank 
of the stream for a long way. Grant sought to find 
a way to reach Vicks-burg from the north but could 
not. At last he thought he would try to push his 
troops down the west shore and then run his gun 
boats past the town and use them to cross the 
stream. One still night in A-pril three gun boats 
and quite a fleet made a move down the stream. 
They had bales and hay in piles on them, to keep 
them safe from the fire of the foe, so that they did 
not look like boats at all. Vicks-burg was all dark, 
but just as the fleet came in front of it the whole hill 
side was one blaze of light. The gun that told the 
foe was near had gone off, and they lit fires in the 
streets, till one could see the time of day on the 
clock on the Court House. But with all the smoke 
and noise, for the roar was fit to make one deaf, 
the fleet stole by. It was no boy's play to get 
Vicks-burg. The band that went to storm the fort 
fell so fast as to close up the way of those who were 
to press on. It was one of the worst fights of 
the whole war. Grant put all in trim to lay siege to 
the towm. The foe did what they could to hold out. 
They cut down the food so that it might last, and 



Lines Drawfi In. 



157 



you may be sure the share for each was small. 
Then there were the wives and young ones who 
had to live in caves dug in the hill side, so as to 
be out of the way of the shot and shell. Flour 
was so high in price that none could buy it. Mule 
meat brought a great sum a pound. The men had 
to feed their beasts on corn tops. No food could 
be brought in, for all chance for that was cut off. 
T h e d o g s 
would moan 
and whine in 
the streets 
w^hen a shell 
went off To 
add to the 
woes of the 
time, Gen- 
er-al Grant 

dug mines through the hills 'neath the town. 
In these he put stuff that could be set on fire 
by means of a fuse, and blow up the whole 
town. Each day the shells fell on the place, 
and each night the sky was red with the glow 
of the fire. Yet spite of all, the brave men 
held out for sev-en long weeks, in need of food, and 
thouQ^h most of them were ill. With a foe on all 
sides that drew more near day by day, and a line of 




CAVES AT VICKS-BURG. 



158 History of the United States. 

fire a-round them, their chance was small. At last 
Gen-er-al Grant made up his mind to make a 
erand charoe. As Gen-er-al Pem-ber-ton saw what 
was to come, he sent word that he would like to 
speak to Gen-er-al Grant with a flag of truce. At 
three one day the two met face to face and shook 
hands. On both sides there was a crowd of men 
on the works. Pem-ber-ton sought to know on what 
terms he might give up. Grant said, "Those I 
wrote to you to-day." Pem-ber-ton said he could 
not take such terms, and the war must go on. "As 
you like," said Grant. Pem-ber-ton went back to 
the fort, and the next day he had to yield. It was 
a sad sight to see the long line of brave men in rags 
as they were on the march out of the town. They 
had to go in the face of the foes, stack their arms 
and lay down their flags. Then they were held in 
bonds. This was a large crowd of men for the 
troops of the North to take, and all their arms, too, 
fell in their hands. The U-nion troops now went in 
to the town. They gave food to the poor men who 
had so long known what it was to starve. On that 
day the stars and stripes were seen to wave from 
the Court House at Vicks-burg. 

Port Hud-son was a place on a stream by the 
name of the Red, and was a strong place. Far-ra- 
gut found, that food was sent by that way to the 



Lines Drazmi In. 159 

Con-fed-e-rates, so he thought it best to block the 
stream. He took a dark night and had no hghts 
on his boats ; but his decks and guns shone with 
white-wash, while the stands of shot and shell were 
left black. This made things stand out clear, 
though naught could be seen from the shore. At 
the same time Gen-er-al Banks led up a land force 
to fight the foe in the rear. That night at nine, at 
a red light from the flag-ship, eight boats made a 
start on their way through the dark. They were 
found out at once and a fierce fire sent from the 
Port. Like all the towns on the stream the Port is 
built on a bend. But two boats got safe through 
the fire. One brave man. Lieu-ten-ant Cum-mings, 
stood on deck when a piece of shell took off his leg. 
As he fell he said: ''Tell my wife I fell at my post." 
When they took him down to the room where lay 
those who had wounds, he said, w^ith a glance 
round: 'Tf there is one here hurt worse than I, 
tend to him first." Soon he heard a sound of 
steam, and he said : ''Get her by safe and the foe 
may have this leg, too." 

The siege of this place went on in the same way 
as the one at Vicks-burg. The town was torn to 
bits. Rats and mules were the meat of the men, 
and they went so far as to strip the leaves and bark 
from the trees for food. When the chief in charge 



i6o History of the United States. 

heard of the fall of Vicks-burg, he gave up the fort 
and all the arms, but there were no stores of food 
left. 

On the 3d of Ju-ly Gen-er-al Gil-more made the 
first move on Charles-ton. He sent a force to a 
place by the name of Fol-ly Isl-and. There they 
built earth works on which to mount their guns, so 
as to bear on the guns on Mor-ris Isl-and. If you 
look on the map you will see that Fol-ly Isl-and lies 
to the south of Mor-ris Isl-and, and is quite near it. 
When all was in good trim fire was sent out on the 
foe. Then there was a move made on Forts Grees: 
and Wag-ner at the north end of this Isle. In 
three hours the guns of the last sent out no more 
fire, and the U-nion men thought they might march 
in and take the fort. There were some black troops 
with them, and Col-o-nel Shaw led them. But they 
found the foe was still there and the black troops 
were shot down like sheep. Col-o-nel Shaw was 
one of the first to fall. The fight went on for 
twelve hours, and then the U-nion men had to give 
up and fall back. Then they put the forts in a 
state of siege and all day sent their shells in to 
Wag-ner and Sum-ter. They had one gun that 
would send out a ball all the way from Mor-ris Isl- 
and to Charles-ton — that is to say, five miles. To 
this gun they gave the name of the **Sw^amp Angel." 



Lines Drawn In. 



i6i 



For a week the shells fell on Fort Sum-tef ; then 
they sent word that they must yield. On the 
7th of Sep-tem-ber it was found that the foe 
was gone from Forts Gregg and Wag-ner, and so 
Mor-ris Isl-and was left to the U-nion troops. 
Charles-ton felt the woes of the long fire. Now 
and then a U-nion shot told on Fort Sum-ter. The 
wharves and docks of the town were in reach of the 
shells, so that their stores were not safe. Still for 
two years no move was made to take the town. 




IRON-CLAD AND SHIP. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



MOVES IN THE WEST. 



There was a Con-fed-e-rate in Ten-nes-see by 
the name of John Mor-gan who led the raids in the 
West with a fire and dash that at times bore down 
all in his way. One day a good dame rode in to 
the Union camp and said she must see the Gen-er-al 
at once — there was no time to lose. When the Gen- 
er-al saw her she told him she had come from East 
Ten-nes-see, from a long ways on rough roads, to 
bring him news that Mor-gan had made out to cross 
the Cum-ber-land, and was on his watch to fioht 
them. A scout who had got a wound had brought 
word to her house. As the good dame had no sons 
and was strong for the U-nion, and had no one to 
send, there was naught for her to do but to mount a 
horse and bring the news. Gen-er-al Car-ter went 
out with a force to meet those who were on this 
raid. But he found a large force, and in a fight 
that took place he lost his life, and his troops had 
to fall back. Mor-gan in the mean time went on 
with his bold course, made a dash through In-di- 
an-a and laid waste all in his way. You may be 



Moves In The West. 163 

sure the men in the land did not sit still and see 
him spoil their goods. They rose up in a mass to 
stop him, and there was more than one fight. 
Once they took Mor-gan and some of his men and 
threw them in jail, but they dug their way out 
and o'ot back to the Con-fed-e-rate lines once more. 

The U-nion men made a move that drew Bragg 
out of Chat-ta-noo-ga, and then Gen-er-al Ro-se- 
crans went in and took it. Chat-ta-noo-ga is in a 
rouo'h land and its name means "hawk's nest." 
It is in a gap by the ''Look-out Mount-ain," on the 
left bank of the Ten-nes-see. 

Ro-se-crans thought the foe was in full flight, 
so he left a small force in Chat-ta-noo-ga and went 
to chase them. But he was not right in his thoughts, 
for Bragg was on his way back, as he had heard of 
a new force that would come to his aid. So the 
foes met and there was such a fierce fight that one 
said: ''When the fire was at an end, one might 
have had a long walk down that ditch of dead men, 
and not once have stepped on the ground." The 
next day the new force came to the help of the Con- 
fed-er-ates, and the fight went on. But the line of 
the U-nion men gave way in that fire, and at last 
they knew they had lost the day. Gen-er-al Ro- 
se-crans fell back to Chat-ta-noo-ga, and soon the 
loss was told in a flash to those in Wash-ing-ton. 



164 History of the United States. 

Gen-er-al Gar-field, who was his chief ot staff, rode 
to Gen-eral Thom-as, who still kept up his fire. He 
took a course like a ship in a storm, to keep out of 
the way of the fire, for there were men who knew 
well how to shoot in the rear of each fence or by 
each tree. He had to ride up a slope in full sight 
of the foe, but he went on. He got to the crest 
and then he could see at last on that side, still at his 
post in the shot and shell, the brave man he sought. 
Gar-field told Thom-as that Long-street would be on 
him soon, and as he spoke the foe came in sight. 
Just then Gen-er-al Gor-don Gran-ger came forth 
with his troops to the aid of the U-nion. They 
drove the foe from the place, and it was said there 
was a sad breast-work of the piles of blue coats and 
the gray that was so great that the whole gap was 
full. There was great loss on both sides. Ro- 
se-crans still held Chat-ta-noo-ga, but he could not 
leave it. Bragg drew the lines more close day by 
day. There was but one road by which food could 
be brought in, and the rains made that road of 
small use. 

At last Gen-er-al Sher-man set out to go to the 
help of the men shut up in Chat-ta-noo-ga. They 
had a hard, hard march, and the foe did all they 
could to stop them, for they knew their aim. 
They had to march throuo^h the fire that came 



Moves In The West. 165 

down from the heights. They went on in a mass, 
and five or six men were shot in turn as they 
bore the flae. In one hour in that fierce fire 
Sher-i-dan lost more than one sixth of his men. 
It is told of one of the brave men who had borne 
the flag and was shot down, that when they bore 
him to the rear a kind friend knelt down by him 
to find where his wound might be. ''Where did 
they hit you, my man?" said the friend. 

'' Most up the ridge, sir." 

''No, no. I mean where did the ball strike 
you." 

" Near the top — most up." 

The friend threw back the man's clothes and 
found his arm torn by a shell. The man gave it 
a glance and said: "Yes, that is what did it. You 
see I had to hug the flag to my breast and make 
for the top. I was near there when this shot came. 
If they had let me be just for a bit I should have 
had a chance to plant that flag on the top. I was 
most up — most up — " and so the poor youth drew 
his last breath with a thought of his flag and not of 
his own sad fate. And in his dull ears that could 
no more hear them, rang the shouts of his friends 
who were at the top of the ridge. When there was 
no more hope for Bragg he fled through the night 
with his men, his arms and trains. Sher-i-dan 



1 66 History of the United States. 



was at his heels, but Bragg was too fleet to be 
caught. But the U-nion men had made a great 
gain. One youth who lay ill with a wound said: 
"I hope I shall not die, but it is a good cause to 
die in." Look-out Mount-ain and Chat-ta-noo-ga 
were in the hands of the troops from the North. 
The Pres-i-dent sent Gen-er-al Thom-as his thanks 
for the brave way he had led the men in these 
fights. 

At sea the ships of the South at first won on all 
sides. They drove our ships out, and got off with 
no harm, till the time that the Al-a-ba-ma was sunk. 
One more grand fight with ships took place in Mo- 
bile Bay. This bay was a great place for boats to 
run in with food and stores to the foe. Our ships 
could not make their way there, for there were two 
forts, a ram of great strength, and shells that would 
blow them up set in the way. Far-ra-gut put false 
bows on his ships, so that they might charge the 
ram, and at last it was sunk. 

Sherman's march to the sea won him much 
fame. At one place, Mer-i-den, where there was a 
great work-shop and store-house for Con-fed-e-rate 
arms and food, he laid all waste. Two years from 
that time some one said to a man of that place : 
''Did Sher-man hurt the town much?" ''Hurt 
it!" said the man, "why, he took it with him." 



Moves In The West. 



i6; 



This seems a hard case, but it was the chance of 
war. 

In the mean time one of the Con-fed-e-rates, 
Gen-er-al For-rest, led a raid and won the towns of 
Jack-son and U-nion Cit-y. Then he fell on Pa-du- 
cah, but they held out there and would not yield. 
He then made a move on Fort Pil-low, which had 
but a small force in it and half 
were black men. 

At noon For-rest sent a 
flag of truce and said they 
must give up the fort at once. 
Ma-jor Brad-ford, who was 
at the head, said he would 
like to have an hour to talk 
with his men. In this time 
For-rest broke his faith, as he 
made a move to a spot from 
which he could make the best fire. Then he 
sent word that if they did not yield up the post 
in less than a half hour he would storm the works. 
By the end of that time the Con-fed-e-rates had 
crept near the works. Brad-ford said he would not 
yield. The foe heard this with yells. They made 
a rush for the works with a cry that they would 
spare none. The U-nion men, in a fright, threw 
down their arms and fled. But they were all slain. 




WIL-LIAM T. SHER-MAN. 



i68 



History of the United States. 



For a long time it would seem that Gen-er-al 
For-rest wore a charm so that his hfe was safe. 
The U-nion men sent out troops to take hmi, but 
he beat them. He made a dash in to Mem-phis 
when it was in the hands of the U-nion troops and 
took off some of the chief men ere the rest knew he 
had been there. 

In the summer of 1864 John Mor-gan rode once 
more on his raids through Ken-tuck-y. But when 
he got to East Ten-nes-see the U-nion men rose in 
._ ^-,=^ .:r:a.g== ^^ force and found out 

the house in which 
he was and laid 
siege to it. He ran 
out and hid in a 
vine-yard, but one 
of the U-nion men 
saw him and told 
him to halt. Mor- 
gan would have 
shot the man, but 
ere he could fire, a ball was sent through his heart, 
and Mor-gan rode on his raids no more. 

Col-o-nel Ul-ric Dahl-gren with some troops 
made a move to strike Rich-mond, Feb-ru-a-ry 28th, 
from the south. Gen-e-ral Kil-pat-rick was to join 
him there, but when he got there he saw naught of 




CAP-I-TOL AT RICH-MOND. 



Moves lit The West. 169 

Dahl-gren. He was soon seen by the Con-fed- 
e-rates and had to fly. Dahl-gren did not come, 
and it was found that his black guide had led him 
the wrong way. The foe fell on him, but he fought 
his way out. Still he met with his death ere the 
fight was done. He was young — just of age — and 
so brave that he had sought the chance to lead his 
men to Rich-mond. All felt sad at his fate. 

Rich-mond is the first town in Vir-gin-ia in size, 
and so was held to be the key to the State. Much 
flour is made there and sent to South A-mer-i-ca, as 
it is said that it is of a kind which does not spoil in 
heat. There is a large trade, too, in the weed that 
men smoke and chew, and most is sent out of Rich- 
mond. The town held out long, for its forts were 
strong. It was the head place for the troops of the 
South, and they felt that they must hold it at all 
costs, for if it were lost their cause would be lost 
with it. So for a long time the cry '' on to Rich- 
mond" seemed a vain one, for it was a hard task for 
our troops to take it. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



GRANT TAKES THE CHARGE. 



As soon as Grant was in charge of the troops 
he sent out word for them to make moves in all 
parts. He made a march through the Wil-der-ness 
to the rear of Lee's troops. There was a hot fight. 
The o^round was strewn with the slain. The trees 
were so dense that men could not ride, and it was a 
hand to hand fight. The woods got on fire in more 
than one place and the hot smoke made it hard 
to breathe. Men were at times too near to fire 
their guns, and took them as clubs to beat back 
the foe. Long-street got a wound and then Lee 
took the field. Han-cock had thrown up earth- 
works so that his troops could get some rest back 
of them. But the wind set the brush in a flame 
and the fire drove them out. Then the Con-fed- 
e-rates saw their chance and made a rush on him 
with yells, and set their flag on his earth-works. 
He drove them back, but he had a fierce fight. 
The U-nion troops met with great loss. But the 
next day they took up a march for Spott-syl-va- 
nia Court-house. When they got there they found 



Gi^ant Takes the Charge. 171 

Lee had his men on the ridge, and they had to 
form their hnes in the whiz of balls. 

In the gray dawn of the 12th of May, ere a ray 
of light came in to the sky, Gen-er-al Han-cock took 
his troops near a weak point in the lines of the foe. 
The fog was so thick that not a soul could be 
seen, and the wet ground kept all sound ol the 
men's tramp quite still. They did not fire a shot 
till they got in to the Con-fed-e-rate camp. In spite 
of all o'dds the Con-fed-e-rates fought well, but Han- 
cock won and took a large part of their force. In 
the fight Gen-er-al Rice got his death wound. They 
took him to the rear, but the sounds of the fire still 
came to his dull ear. His eyes wore the glaze of 
death, but he spoke in a faint voice and said: 
*'Turn me." 

"Which way?" 

"Let me die with my face to the foe," said the 
brave man with his last breath. 

If you will look on your maps you will see 
that the town of Pe-ters-burg is not far south of 
Rich-mond. The U-nion troops had made more 
than one move to get this place, but at last Grant 
laid siege to it. There had been a fight of two 
days and great loss of life on both sides. As long 
as they had food the town could stand out, and they 
did so for ten months. In this time there were two 



172 Histo7y of the Ujiitcd States. 

moves made to take the town. The first was to 
dig a mine from a point in the U-nion Hne to the 
fort of the foe. It was four feet wide and the same 
in height. In this mine they were to place stuff 
that could be blown up by means of a fuse. Then 
they made a feint on the north side of the James, 
and Lee drew off a part of his force, as he thought 
Rich-mond was the aim. At this the sign was made 
to light the fuse. An hour went by, but no sound 
was heard. Then two brave men crept in to the 
mine and found the fuse was broke. They made 
all right and had just time to get out when the crash 
came. There was a huge chasm, the earth was 
rent in twain, and the fort was gone. The U-nion 
guns gave out a fire, and the troops made a rush 
in to the chasm. Then for some cause there was a 
pause, and they did not act at once. This gave 
the foe time to get once more in trim to fight. 
They had but to turn their guns on the great 
mass of U-nion men in the chasm and shoot them 
dead in piles. And so the scheme of the mine 
was brought to naught. On the 19th of Sep-tem- 
ber Sher-i-dan made up his mind to take Win- 
ches-ter, as he heard that the force of the foe was 
weak in that place. The fight was a hard one, 
but at last the U-nion men drove the foe out. 
Sher-i-dan did not stop, but kept right on in the 



Grant Takes the Charze. 



^11 



chase. He kept up this, and made raids on the 
foe till he had more than half of the troops of 
Gen-er-al Ear-ly in his hands. It was at this 
time that Grant thought it best to lay waste the 
Shen-an-do-ah vale, a land full of fine farms and 
barns, with hay, and grain, and mills, and farm 




SHEN-AN-DOAH VAL-LEY. 



tools, and cows, and sheep. It was a hard thing 
to do, but it gave aid of all sorts to the foe, so 
that by the rules of war he had a right to spoil it. 
In the mean time the Con-fed-e-rate Gen-er-al 
Ear-ly had made up his mind to steal a march 
on the U-nion men. He led his troops on just 



I 74 History of the United States. 

as the first streak of dawn was seen in the sky. 
They made a charge with wild yells on front, 
rear and flank all at once. In a short time part of 
the troops were in full flight. Sher-i-dan, who had 
slept in Win-ches-ter that night, heard the news. 
He rode on as fast as his jet black horse could 
take him, and met some of his own troops in full 
flight. He swung his old hat with the cry, ''Turn 
back, turn back, boys! We are all right! We will 
whip them yet! We will sleep in our old camp this 
night!" One more charge and there was a turn in 
the fight. Ear-ly had to fly. Each side had met 
with great loss. 

Gen-e-ral Sher-man made his way to At-lan-ta, 
and in the month of Au-gust, 1864, laid siege to it. 
The men made huts to keep off the blaze of the 
sun, and they had food and drink, and wood for 
their fires. They kept up the fire night and day. 
In four days they had cut off all the food from the 
tpwn. Then Hood blew up his stores and set out 
with his troops to Ma-con. Sher-man sent word 
to Lin-coln, "At-lan-ta is ours." This news was 
heard with great joy by all. Bells were rung, and 
each town sent out a fire from their guns. Hood 
made a new move on the force at Al-la-too-na 
Pass. Sher-man sent for Corse to make haste and 
go there. Soon they read this on the flags that 



Grant Takes the Charge. 1 75 

were in use to give the signs : ''C. R. S. E. H. E. 
R." Sher-man made out the word. "If Corse is 
there, it is all right. I know the man !" And he 
was right, for Corse, though he had a wound in the 
face, held out all day and beat Hood in the end. 
The next day he sent word to Sher-man that he was 
''short a cheek and an ear," but he could whip the 
foe yet. 

One of the great moves of the war was made on 
New Or-leans by Far-ra-gut in ships, and Gen-er-al 
But-ler with a land force. This town had two 
strong forts, and there was a long chain with earth 
works at each end. There were fire rafts full of 
stuff that they could set on fire, and gun boats, and 
one of the kind we know as a ram. 

Far-ra-orut sent fire in to the forts in vain. His 
boats took fire from the rafts, and he had to put out 
each as it went by. At last he thought he would 
try and run by the forts with his fleet, and he did 
so. The forts, the steam boats, and the ram, kept 
up a hot fire, but in the midst of shot and ball, he 
made his way up the stream. The next day at 
dawn, he was in New Or-leans, and in a day 
more the fleets and forts were in his hands, and 
Gen-er-al But-ler with a land force, came in to 
the town. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



HOW THE END CAME. 



Ere Sher-man left At-lan-ta he burned the town 
lest it should be made a strong-hold for the Con- 
fed-e-rates as soon as he was gone. He burned 

each bridge, cut the wires 
that could take the news, 
and tore up the rail-roads. 
Then the men set out on 
their march once more. 
Each day's march was a 
long one. They tore up 
each rail-road on the way. 
They went in two lines by 
two routes. When they 
came to Sa-van-nah they found that it had a 
large force in it. But when they heard that part 
of the U-nion troops had Fort Mc-Al-lis-ter in 
their hands, they set all in trim to lay siege to Sa- 
van-nah. Some of them crept near the works of 
the Con-fed-e-rates, and all was so still they thought 
the foe must be gone. They went on but not a 
soul was to be seen. They went from earth-work 




LAY-ING THE TEL-E-GRAPH WIRES. 



How the End Came. 177 

to earth-work and at dawn went in to the town just 
in time to see the grey coats cross the marsh in a 
flirfit from them. Sher-man wrote to Lin-coln : '' I 
beg leave to give you the gift of the town of Sa-van- 
nah, with all its guns and stores." 

By this time things at the South were in a sad 
state. The rail-roads that were left were not in 
good case, and the cars were old. One by one the 
ports of the South had been lost to them. Food 
was hard to get, though they might give a great 
price for it. Salt was so scarce that those who had 
a smoke-house where meat had been kept in corn in 
past years, dug up the hard floor and put it to boil 
so as to eet out the salt that time had left there. 
The men drank stuff made out of dry peas or rye. 
Tea, sweets, or cake, were not seen. There was a 
band of the wives and maids of Rich-mond who met 
once a week in a club. All they had for cheer was 
a cool drink from the well. The brave girls no 
more wore fine silk gowns, and hats in the last style, 
but they did not seem to care. They wore their 
poor stuff robes with grace, and found out how to 
plait hats of rice straw, which they would trim and 
deck with cocks' tails. They had to write their 
notes on leaves of old books, but they kept up their 
pluck through all. Still there was small hope left. 
The U-nion troops now held all but three of the 



1 78 History of the United States. 

sea-ports. Though the Hnes drew close round 
Charles-ton, and Mo-bile bay was in the hands of 
the North, the towns still held out. Wil-ming-ton, 
too, was a great port for the South, and kept up a 
brisk trade with them. Gen-er-al But-ler had a plan 
by which he thought he could knock down the walls 
of Fort Fish-er, and then there would be no help 
for Wil-ming-ton. He thought if he set off a ship- 
load of stuff to blow up the fort, all would be in 
their hands. So a boat was sent out and made to 
look like those that came for trade with the South. It 
had tons and tons of stuff in kegs and bags to blow 
up the fort. A fuse went through each, and there was 
a clock-work thing made so that they would all light 
at once. On the night of De-cem-ber 23d, 1864, 
this boat drew near the fort. The crew got out of 
the way, and when some time had gone there was 
a loud boom. But the fort did not feel it at all. 

On the 13th of Jan-u-a-ry a new move was made 
with Gen-er-al Ter-ry at the head. He kept up a 
fire on the fort for two days. There was a move 
made from the land, and the stream at the same 
time. The Con-fed-e-rates fought in a brave way, 
but they lost ground step by step. At last their 
chief fell with a wound, and they lost heart. In 
the night they gave up the fort. The loss on 
both sides was great. 



How the End Came. 



179 



Next Co-lum-bl-a was won by the U-nion troops. 
Gen-er-al Wade Hamp-ton, of the South, had 
sent word that all the stores in Co-lum-bi-a where 
the stuff was kept, out of which white goods are 
made, should be burned. A strong wind blew 
and the fire spread. When Sher-man went in to 
Co-lum-bi-a he could not put out this fire. Some 
have set it down to Sher-man's charge, but this 
is not true. The U-nion men found the fire there 
and did all they could to put it out. Sher-man 
gave food to those who w^ere left with no homes. 

He heard soon that Wil-ming-ton was in the 
hands of the U-nion troops, and that Har-dee had 
gone out of Charles-ton as soon as he knew Co- 
lum-bi-a was lost. Ere Har-dee went he had a 
force sent to fire, as in Co-lum-bi-a, each house where 
there were stores of the stuff which makes the 
wealth of the South. Of course a large part of 
the town was burned. The U-nion troops had a 
hard time to put out this fire and save the rest of 
the town. The stars and stripes were soon set to 




i8o History of the United States. 

float on Sum-ter and the rest of the forts in 
the bay. On the 23d of March the march was 
done. 

Such a march had not been known in all the wars 
of the past. Long will the fame of that March to 
the Sea live in our land. He had found, as 
he said, that all the men in the South had 
been drawn out to aid the troops, and that 
there were no more left, and that the land was 
a *' mere shell." 

The next thought was how to take Rich-mond. 
In Feb-ru-a-ry Sher-i-dan made a move on Lynch- 
burg, but it was too strong to take, and he 
was sent by Grant to take a rail-road near Pe-ters- 
burg. 

There had been a hard rain all that night and 
the next day so that not much could be done. 
Lee had his troops in good trim for a fight, for he 
knew it was to come. Sher-i-dan made a push for 
a place by the name of Five Forks. There was a 
sharp fight there and he had to fall back. The 
next day he made a fierce charge. He took the 
flag in his own hands, made all the bands play and 
with a wild shout the troops made a rush on the 
works of the foe. They fled from the field and the 
U-nion troops at their rear in hot haste took a large 
force of them. Sher-i-dan had great force of will 



How the End Came. i8i 

and led his men as he chose. It is said that 
just as he led the charge he saw one of his men 
struck by a ball and reel as if he would fall from 
his horse. He knew that a horse with no man 
to guide him might throw out the whole line, so 
he said: "All right, my man, keep right on." 
And by the sheer force of the will of his chief 
the man rode on to the breast-works and then fell 
dead. 

The next day there was a fight on the whole line 
near Pe-ters-burg. Fort Gregg held out well, 
though the U-nion force was ten times as great as 
theirs. For an hour and a half they fought, but 
there was no chance in the face of such odds. All 
at once a great cheer went up. Fort Gregg was in 
the hands of the U-nion men. Lee was at that 
time in Pe-ters-burg where the sounds of the fight 
came to him more and more near. "The men are 
in flight," he said Gen-er-al Hill went out at once 
and rode to the place from which the sounds of the 
shots came. He came on some of the U-nion men 
and in a cool way rode up to them and said they 
must yield to him. One of them shot him and he 
fell from his horse dead. Hill had been a great 
chief and Lee's right hand man in all the fights of 
the war. He had worn the badge of each grade, 
and in a brave way won his right to the first rank. 



1 82 History of the United States. 

Lee drew off the men that were left from Pe- 
ters-burg, but as soon as Grant heard of this flight 
he sent troops to chase them. Sher-i-dan took 
some of Lee's trains and men, and wrote to Grant: 
"I wish you were here. If we could press things 
I think Lee would give up." To which Grant 
wrote: ''Press things." That night most of the 
U-nion troops of the Ar-my of the Po-to-mac met. 
The troops of the South had no food and were in 
a sad state. There was no hope for them, and 
at last Lee sent w^ord that he would see Grant 
and talk of terms. They met in a room of a house 
that was on a farm. Grant wrote out his terms, 
and Lee was glad to take them. Lee did not 
have to give up his sword. Grant let each man 
keep his horse, for he said they would need them 
all to plow the land when the spring came. Lee 
felt that this was most kind, and said there was 
no thine that could have been done that would 
be such a help to them. Then the two great 
chiefs shook hands and Lee went out. Grant gave 
food to the Con-fed-er-ate troops ere they gave up 
their arms. As Lee rode through his own lines 
the men came round him and strove to touch his 
hand. With tears in his eyes he said: ''My men, 
we have fought through the war side by side. I 
have done the best I could for you." On the 12th 



How the Eiid Canie. 183 

of April, 1865, the troops of the South made a 
march to the Court House and laid down their arms, 
their flags, and all signs of rank. Then they broke 
up and went to their own homes. Grant did not 
fire a gun to tell of all that was won and that the 
great war was at an end. 

There was great joy, and all gave thanks at the 
North when the news that the war had come to an 
end was borne on the wires. Lin-coln had held 
his course in a firm, brave way. He had said in a 
speech in New York, when he was on his way to 
take his place, "When the time comes for me to 
speak, I shall then take the ground that I think is 
right — right for the North, for the South, for the 
East, for the West, for all our land." 

And so he had done. The war was a grief to 
him. He said, ''We did not think this war would 
last so long. Both sides read the same Word of 
God, and both pray to Him to aid in a war on 
those who are bound to them by near ties. We 
hope, we pray, that this scourge of war may soon 
pass. But if God wills it should stay till each drop 
of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid with one 
drawn with the sword, it must be said, 'Shall not 
the Judge of all the world do right?'" 

Five days from the time that the news of joy 
came in a flash on the wires, Lin-coln was dead. 



184 History of the United States. 

He had been shot while he sat in his box, at the 
play, by a man of the name of Wilkes Booth. This 
man had by some means got in the box and made 
the door fast. When he had shot Lin-coln he 
sprang from the box to the stage. In the jump to 
the stage his foot caught in one of our flags, and 
broke his leg. He had a horse at the door, and got 
off; but was at last found in a barn where he stood 
at bay. They set the barn on fire to drive him out ; 
but he still stood his ground, and fought till the last, 
when he fell, shot by one of our men. 

Those who stood by the bed-side of Lin-coln saw 
that there was no hope. All the land was full of 
gloom, when the sad news came. As his corpse 
was borne in a train to his old home, the towns were 
hung with black on the whole route, and most men 
wore the badge of grief. Those who had not been 
warm friends of Lin-coln in his life, felt a shock at 
his death, for they knew a brave, true man had gone. 

At the same hour that Lin-coln was shot, a man 
burst in the room where Sew-ard lay, sprang on the 
couch of the sick man, and sought to stab him to 
death. The whole town was wild with fear. Troops 
went out to hunt up those who took part in these 
crimes. Some were hune and some served a term 
of years m jail. Lin-coln's name will live as a calm 
and just man, with a strong mind and kind heart — 
good as well as great. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



PEACE ONCE MORE. 



At the time of Lin-coln's death, there had been 
a sort of plot to kill more of the head men of the 
land. Sew-ard had been shot in his own house, 
and there was a great fear in Wash-ing-ton ; for no 
one knew how far this plot might reach. 

When An-drew John-son took the place at the 
head of the land, there was some fear that those 
who had spent so long a time in the war would not 
know how to live in time of peace. But they soon 
made their way to their old homes, and were glad 
to lay down their arms and take up the old trades 
once more. There was a vast debt, and all sorts 
of loans to be got. Then there were those who 
thought that the States, which were the cause of 
the war, should not have the right to come back on 
their own terms ; and some thought they could come 
back when they would, and in their own way. 

But John-son brought out a Bill which gave 
back all their rights to most of those who had made 
the war. The States could come back if they would 
say that they would have no more slaves, and that 



1 86 Peace Once More. 

they would be true to the U-nit-ed States in all 
time to come. John-son did not act in a way to 
suit those who had cast their votes for him, and 
Con-gress made a move that he should give up his 
place. When they came to try him, they found 
there was one vote short. That one vote kept him 
in his place ; but he did not get a new term. 

The next man who was the choice of the land 
was U-lys-ses S. Grant, whose work in the war had 
won him such fame. In his time all the States of 
the South came back in to the U-nion. Great 
tracts of land were made ours ; the debt was made 
less ; and there was a law made which said that 
men of all races and hues should have a right to 
vote. In his last term a grand show took place in 
Phil-a-del-phia. All the lands in the world sent 
things to be shown there, and all the trades of the 
world had place in those great halls. 

When Hayes came in there was talk that there 
had not been a fair vote for him ; but in time he 
won his way. He was fair to both North and 
South, and his rule was mild but firm. He drew 
all troops out of the South, that those States might 
put their own laws in force, with no help from Wash- 
ing-ton ; so that if their own folks had wrongs, their 
own courts must set the thing right. 

Time has shown that this course was wise. The 



History of the United States. 187 

States at the South have grown in peace and good 
will to us since that time, and the white men there 
now seem quite glad to have the black men vote. 
Rail ways have been built so fast that it is thought 
in a few years there will be four or five of these 
great lines through the whole length and breadth 
of the land. Our debt has been paid off at such a 
quick rate that if we go on it will be gone ere long, 
and the tax on all things can be made less. We 
have shown, too, that we have not stood still. 

In old times each watch in use here came from 
the old lands, but now a watch is made here that 
might win the prize from those on that side of the 
sea. So, too, in glass, tools, knives, soap, combs, 
and all sorts of things, we have made a name. The 
beef and grain we send out bring in vast wealth. 

James A. Gar-field was our choice in 1 88 1. A 
great shock was felt in the land, just two months 
from the time he came to the White House, when 
we heard he had been shot while on his way to take 
a train for the North. A man by the name of Gui- 
teau, who had some sort of strange craze, was the 
one who did the black deed. 

They bore Gar-field at once to his home in the 
White House, and for a long time he lay there in 
great pain. Day by day the news would flash on 
the wires that told his state, how his pulse beat. 



i88 



Peace Once More. 



how he had slept, and what hope there was for his 

hfe. All would seize the news and read it each day, 

with the wish that he might 

yet live. They took him to 

Long Branch in the hope 

that the sea breeze might 

help him ; but though his 

life held out for near the 

space of three months, it 

came to an end, and his last 

breath was drawn in that 

sweet home by the sea, Sep- 

tem-ber 19, 1881. Great 

grief was felt at his death, 

and all lands strove to say a 

kind word. The Court of 

En-gland put on black for 
him, and the Queen sent a 

wreath for his grave. Gui- 

teau was hung for his crime. 
On the death of Gar-field, 

Ches-ter Ar-thur was made 

Pres-i-dent, Sep-tem-ber 

18, 1 88 1. He held more 

than one high place ere this, 

and it is said though much gold went through his 

hands he came out poor. He was at one time at 




BAR-THOL-DI STiVf-UE. 



Grover Cleveland. 189 

the head of the Port In New York. The Star Route 
frauds made much stir hi his time, but the men who 
were tried made out to get clear. 

The same year Chil-i sought to take some land from 
Pe-ru, and said they would fight for it. Now there 
were In Pe-ru some of our men who were In trade 
there, and Ar-thur sent a man to look In-to the facts of 
the case, and there was no war. The next year it 
was charo^ed that all this had been done for the sake 
of trade, but this was not proved. 

Not long since France gave a gift to the U-ni-ted 
States. It is a Lib-er-ty in bronze, and of great size, 
and it is the work of a man by the name of Bar-thol- 
cli. It shows Lib-er-ty with a crown on her head and 
a torch held up high In her hand, as though to give 
light to all the world. It stands on Bed-loe's Isl-and 
in our great New York Bay, as though to light the 
way to our shores to all who seek a home, where 
they may earn their bread in peace, and have a free 
press, a free vote, and all the rights of free men. 

Ste-phen Gro-ver Cleve-land was made Pres-i-dent 
In 1884. He was the first Dem-o-crat who had held 
the chair for more than a score of years. He was 
born in the town of Cald-well, New Jer-sey, on March 
18, 1837. 

The term of Cleve-land's stay in the White House 
was not marked with g^reat chan-o^es — or much of 



190 History of the United States. 

note. What was called the Chl-nese Bill was passed 
to keep out the Chl-nese from this land. Some felt 
that this was not a just bill, as the same rule was not 
made for those who came from the rest of the world. 
Men thought it was not fair to pick out Chi-na and 
say that no man who came from there could land on 
our shores. But those who wished the bill to pass 
said that the Chi-nese did not want to be A-mer-i-cans, 
and would not be, if they stayed here for years. 
They came here to make what they could, but they 
meant to go back to their homes at last, and take 
with them all they had made. They would not take 
the right to vote if they could get it. So the bill was 
passed to keep them out, but the Chi-nese who were 
here at the time had leave to stay. 

The Mills Bill to make the tax less on all goods 
brought in-to the U-ni-ted States made more stir than 
aught else in Cleve-land's term. The cry of "free 
trade" rose, and the class-es who work, the men of 
trade, took fright. They knew the price of all work 
was low in Eu-rope, and they thought if a tax were not 
fixed on the things made there, they would sell just 
as cheap here or else A-mer-i-can things would have 
no sale at all. Then they said wa-ges here would 
soon be as low as in Eu-rope, and the poor man 
would have less to live on. When Cleve-land was 
put up for a new term, in 1888, the cry of "no free 



Grover Cleveland. 



191 



trade" rang through the land, and the fear of that 
change did much to make him lose votes. But all he 
wished to do was to make the tax less. This tax on 




GRO-VER CLEVE-LAND. 



goods and all things brought in our ports is called a 
-tar-iff." 

Cleve-land was the first Pres-i-dent who was wed 



192 



History of the United States. 



in the White House. He took for his wife Miss 
Fran-ces Fol-som. 

James G. Blaine, of Maine, had a host of friends 
among the Re-pub-H-cans, who would have been glad 
to have put him up for next Pres-i-dent. He was in 
Eu-rope when the choice was made, and it is said 
he would have served if he had been the choice of all. 

But there were some who feared 
to put him up, as he had not 
proved the best man to win the 
last time. So they chose Ben- 
ja-min Har-ri-son, of In-di-an-a, 
and he gained the place. He 
was made our Pres-i-dent on 
March 4, 1889. 

Ben-ja-min Har-ri-son, our 
Pres-i-dent at this time, was 
born at North Bend, O-hi-o, 
and is the son of John Scott 
Har-ri-son and the grand-son 
of Will-iam Hen-ry Har-ri-son, the ninth Pres-i-dent 
of the U-ni-ted States. He learned law, and was wed 
when quite young to Miss La-vin-i-a Scott. When 
the war broke out he helped raise men to form what was 
called the "70th In-di-an-a," and he was made Col-o- 
nel of it. For two years he served well in the fights 
with the foe. For his brave work at Re-sa-ca on 




JAMES G. BLAINE. 



Benjamin Harrison. 



193 



May 14, 1864, he was made a Brig-a-dier-Gen-er-aL 
He stayed on till the close of the war. He was liked by 
his men, for he was kind to them, and they called him 
" Lit-tle Ben." He went back to his home and his work 
at law when the war came to an end. His State chose 




BEN-JA-MIN HAR-RI-SON. 



him to a place in the Sen-ate. While there he showed 
in his speech-es that he was not for free trade. 

And now ten times ten years had passed since 
George Wash-ing-ton had been called to take his 
place as first Pres-i-dent of our land. It was thought 
fit to keep the day — to mark the great chan-ges that 



/:_ 



194 History of the United States. 

had been made in this time — and to think of the good 
and great man who had helped the land in its sore 
need, who had led in the war that made us free, and 
ruled in such a wise way when peace came at last. 
So what was called the " Wash-ing-ton Cen-ten-ni-al" 
was held in New York Cit-y on April 29 and 30, 1889. 
Stores and hous-es were decked with flags, and arch-es 
were built of wood and wreathed and hung with red, 
white, and blue. The well-known face of Wash- 
ino-ton looked out on all sides from wreaths of orreen. 
The streets were filled by a dense mass, and rank on 
rank of troops filed by for hours. The drums beat, 
the bands played their best, and cheers rang out on 
all sides as that long train of men marched on. The 
Pres-i-dent and all his men were met by a barge and 
brought to the slip at Wall Street with all the ships of 
war drawn up each side. As they went up the steps 
of the Cit-y Hall, young school-girls in white strewed 
flow-ers on their way, as the girls had done in the time 
of Wash-ing-ton. In the church-es men met to mve 
thanks, and then the Pres-i-dent and his friends went 
to the same place where Wash-ing-ton took his oath 
lo serve as Pres-i-dent. Speech-es were made there. 
Har-ri-son spoke for a short time in a strong voice, 
and he was greet-ed with cheers. The troops from 
the South, with the flags of their States, were all there, 
side bv side with Un-ion men, so that it seemed that 



History of the United States. 195 

they thought of the war no more. So grand a sight as 
these long lines of troops had not been seen in the 
U-ni-ted States since the men came back at the close 
of the war and marched through Wash-ing-ton. At 
night fire-works were sent off at points through the 
town. The Ger-man, the French, the Swiss marched 
side by side, some in quaint garb such as they had 
worn in their homes in the old lands. The Ger-mans 
sent large floats, built at a great cost, that showed the 
way in which some of the trades were worked. The 
boys from the free schools made a fine part of the show. 
In the long years that have passed since the time 
of our first Pres-i-dent, George Wash-ing-ton, there 
have been great chan-ges. The small band has 
grown to a great throng. The town is now a great 
mart, and ships with their white wings sail in-to the 
great bay day and night like birds to a strand. The 
God of Wash-ing-ton, "from whose hand the years 
fall like grains of sand," has blessed the land with 
wealth. All men are free from North to South, and 
as our thouMits 0^0 back to those who fouorht and bled 
for us in the past we thank God for their faith and for 
all they have won for us. May we mark well the path 
they trod, and stand up like them for truth and God. 
May peace still crown our land, while our flag flings 
out its Stars and Stripes o'er North and South as one. 

" Long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 



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